The Charmed Life of Zack & Cody
by tragicwitch
Summary: The Charmed Ones' vacation is interrupted when they discover fledgling witches Zack & Cody,who discover something dark that happened at their birth. Full summary inside. Rated T for safety,and mild supernatural violence, but I think its kept Disney worthy
1. Prologue: Yet Another Gathering Storm

A/N: The Charmed Ones decide to take a little vacation at the Tipton, but their little family excursion quickly becomes a supernatural one (no surprises there). Meanwhile, Zack and Cody discover that they have some unusual talents (and I don't mean their ability to wreak havoc on the Tipton, and annoy the manager). And what does the appearance of a mysterious woman named Natalia mean for their mother? The usual disclaimers. I do NOT own Charmed, Suite Life of Zack & Cody, or any characters therein. Come to think of it, the only original character I used in this fic was Natalia. Anyway, please R&R.

Prologue: Yet Another Gathering Storm

There was something odd, and surreal about the Tipton today. Like one of those days that seemed too perfect, or too normal. One of those days where you know a storm is going to blow in. And that storm was standing in the lobby, clad in a black leather knee-length trench-coat, leggings, and knee-high boots. Her long dark hair hung elegantly about her shoulders, framing her beautiful mocca face. Her amethyst eyes took in every detail of the lobby. She caught sight of a mirror nearby, and surveyed her appearance briefly. Good, the glamour around her ears was maintaining. Couldn't have her ears turning pointed again, and exposing her. She was far too careful for that.

"Madame Natalia!" came a congenial voice from behind the check-in counter. "I thought that was you. "So good to see you again. But… my, you don't look to have aged a day! Why, the last time I saw you was… yes, three years ago. You recommended Carrie Martin to be our cabaret singer."

Natalia smiled faintly at the compact bald man behind the counter. "Wonderful to see you again Marion." She said in her dry smooth velvety tone. "How is my old friend, Carrie doing?" Demon or not, Natalia admired Marion Moseby's reserve of patience that made him so suitable for his position as manager of the Tipton Hotel. She could be patient for upcoming events, and her intricate plans, but patience for people was another thing entirely.

He returned her smile with a wide friendly grin. "She's bringing in more business than the time I booked Pat Benatar!"

"That well, really? Impressive." Much to Natalia's relief, they were diverted from this exchange of pleasantries by the sound of wheels, and scooting of sneakers along the beautifully carpeted floor.

Moseby's smile turned plastic. "Of course it came with a price." He said in an attempt to remain chipper.

"Naturally." She added dryly, not taking her eyes off the source of the noise; two identical blonde boys on razor scooters. Both had helmets over their shaggy blonde hair. One was dressed more conservatively than the other, who was more stout.

"Zack slow down! You're gonna…" as the smaller twin had predicted, Zack veered out of the control to avoid hitting a guest, only to collide with the round table at the center of the lobby. The vase that stood on its surface toppled, and tipped over the edge.

"NOOOO!!!" Moseby cried as he sprinted around his counter with rehearsed speed to dive for the vase, and catch it a split second before it hit the ground. He rose back to his feet with a grunt, placing it back on the table. The twins applauded his feat.

"Great catch Mr. Moseby!" Zack said, trying to divert the angry manager's attention from his wrongdoing. It didn't work.

"How many times have I told you hooligans?! No scooters in the lobby!"

"Never actually." Said the other twin. "We just got them. Our dad sent them to us."

"Well I'm telling you now. I have half a mind to have your mother confine you to your suite."

"No don't do that! She'll… she'll make us go shopping with her again." The twin shuddered, his eyes going wide with the awful memory. "All those shoes. Make it stop!"

Zack put his arms around his brother, adding to his act of hysteria. "It's okay Cody. Lets just go back to the suite and forget all about it." Zack glared at Moseby, shaking his head with mock contempt. "Look what you did."

Moseby looked very taken aback, completely falling for their act. Before he could say anything more, they were both at the elevator making their escape. The manager just shook his head and returned to the counter where Natalia stood waiting. "Please forgive the interruption. I haven't figured out yet whether I should go with the SWAT team, or Animal Control."

"Surely you exaggerate. Boys will be boys." She grinned, still not taking her eyes off the twins as they began to disappear into the elevator. She was sure they were the ones, even though it had been thirteen years since she had last laid her violet eyes on them. Time meant nothing to her. She made a subtle hand gesture towards them before the elevator doors closed.

"It won't be long now." she whispered, before turning her attention back to Moseby. "Now then, do you suppose you can pull a few strings, and get me a suite near Carrie and those… adorable boys of hers?"

"At an 'at your own risk' capacity." He retorted.

Meanwhile, in San-Francisco

"Come on Phoebe! Move it! The plane leaves in an hour!" Piper called to her sister up the stairs. "Paige, get those bags in the car! Go! Go, go, go!" She shouted, waving her hands around hysterically.

Paige dragged two of the suitcases down the staircase, obviously annoyed at her older sister. "I still don't know why we're not just orbing there." She retorted, her curly black ponytail bouncing as she reached the bottom.

"Because the point of us having a _non_-magic vacation is that we don't have to use any magic. Suitcases, now!"

Paige rolled her eyes before waving her hand at the suitcases she had dragged with her. "Jeep."

Piper sighed as the suitcases turned into little white lights, and were magically orbed to her Jeep Cherokee outside. Paige nodded conclusively, before exiting out the front door.

Leo, Piper's husband, put his hand on her shoulder to calm her down. She turned to see his blue-grey eyes scrutinizing her. He was holding Baby Wyatt on his hip, who also seemed worried about his crazy mommy.

"Piper, are you sure you want to do this?"

"Leo, we've had this conversation. Yes. The Elders said demon activity was down to a minimum, and that they have plenty of _other_witches who can handle it."

"It's always calm before the storm." Phoebe called teasingly as she descended the stairs, pulling the last curler out of her brunette hair.

Piper glared at her sister. "Well it's only one week at the Tipton, so I'm sure we'll be back in plenty of time for the storm." She snapped.

Phoebe's brown eyes bulged. "The Tipton, are you serious?!"

Piper sighed for the fiftieth time this morning. "Where have you been for the last month & a half? We had those plane tickets that were about to expire, and with P3 booming, I figured why not. But we're not going if you don't move!"

"Piper…" Leo tried to cut in.

"Leo, we're going. It's been a long time since we've had any non-demon-maiming sister time. And you're the one who wanted some father-son time with Wyatt. So now you'll get that, while my sister's & I enjoy a nice normal vacation like a big happy freaking family!"

Phoebe started pushing her sister out the door. "Okay sweetie, lets get you to the car before you have another meltdown. Bye Leo, we'll call you when we get there… on the phone. Bye Wyatt, you're Aunt Phoebe's going to miss you so much!" She reached behind her for the last suitcase, and gasped. Her eyes squinted shut.

Her premonition was of two boys; blonde twins. One threw a trophy across the room at the other, without touching it. The other threw up his hands in defense, and was stunned when the trophy was stopped by flames that shot from his hands.

Phoebe snapped her eyes open to find Piper staring at her apprehensively. She recognized her sister's premonition face by now. "What did you see?"

Phoebe smiled squeamishly. The last thing Piper wanted to deal with on this vacation was fledgling witches. She tried to look chipper, and unsuspicious. "Nothing. Nothing at all. Let's go, the Tipton awaits!"

Piper furrowed her brows in confusion. "Phoebe?"


	2. Chapter 1: Secrets and Phone Calls

A/N: okay, not really much of a chapter. More like Intro. Part two. Anyway, here you go. I think I might have made London a little too serious, but she's going through a lot at the moment. Please R&R!

Chapter 1: Secrets and Phone Calls

"Holy Crap! I cannot believe we're actually in the Tipton Hotel!" Phoebe exclaimed. She'd been screeching something to that effect the entire car ride/plane ride/taxi ride there. Phoebe had seen the Tipton a few times from her days of living on the east coast, but she'd never actually been inside. Well, once maybe, although it had been with a boyfriend under circumstances of questionable legality. Now she could be here, and _not_ worry about being thrown out.

Piper rolled her eyes. The high life definitely suited Phoebe, even if she didn't always have the money for it. Paige on the other hand was doing her best to look sophisticated (not easy when you're jetlagged & sucking on a lollipop). Piper just hoped she didn't orb out of nervous habit.

"Alright, let's get settled, and then Phoebe, you can show us the sights."

"I don't know Piper. I might not know my way around Boston like I used to. It's been a few years."

Paige rubbed her temples. "Can't we get settled today, and sight-see tomorrow?I'm still a little hiccup air-sick."

"What?" Piper almost giggled.

"Are you serious?" Phoebe added. "You orb around the world all the time, and a little plane ride got to you?"

Paige glared. "San Francisco to Massachusetts isn't exactly a little plane-ride." In the midst of her witty remark, Piage nearly toppled over onto her sisters, who scrambled to help her up.

"Whoa, okay point taken. Phoebe you go get Paige some antacids at that candy counter, I'll go check us in, and Paige you… sit down and watch our luggage." Paige complied, and plopped down onto one of the armchairs with a groan.

While Piper went to check-in, Phoebe went straight to the candy counter. There was no line, and it was occupied by a seemingly bored teenage girl with frizzy blonde hair. "Hi there, my sister's feeling a little jetlagged. Do you have anything for that?"

The girl instantly straightened, and began busying herself. "Sure we've got some Tums right…" her jaw dropped when she saw who she was talking to. "You're… you're… You're Phoebe Halliwell from 'Ask Phoebe'!"

Phoebe was taken aback. Her column was popular, but she never dreamed she'd be known this far east. "Uh… yeah, I am. How did you know, I didn't know my column reached this far."

"Oh it doesn't. But I wish it did. I heard you on the radio once."

"Oh." Phoebe chuckled. "Yeah, my boss Elise had me do that, I wasn't into it so much."

The girl's smile widened. "No I'm glad you did. You have no idea how important it is when the media focuses on powerful women; especially for girls my age."

"Well thanks for your support… uh…"

"Maddie." the girl replied. "Maddie Fitzpatrick."

"Good to meet you Maddie. Now could I just get the…"

"Oh of course." Maddie remembered herself, and handed Phoebe the Tums. "Thanks again. And if you need anything, I'm here five days a week right after school."

"Thanks Maddie." Phoebe adored fans, especially the younger ones. Moments like that always reminded her just how important her job was. With the Tums in hand, she began to make her way back to Paige when someone slammed into her. "Hey!" she cried. "Watch where you're…going." That's when she saw who it was. It was one of the boys from her premonition. A stocky boy with shaggy blonde hair, dressed in a flame-patterned, button down shirt over a T-shirt. For awhile, the two stared at each other, until he spoke.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to. Why don't you let me make it up to you. Tonight, at dinner, eight o'clock."

Phoebe guffawed at his comment. "No offense kid, but I wouldn't want to keep you past your bedtime… Don't you have a twin?"

"Hey, I don't go to bed till… yeah, how'd you know?"

"Phoebe swallowed hard at her slip. "I… think I saw him… earlier… when I got here. So what's your name?" she added, trying to cover up her suspicious behavior.

"Zack. And the other one's Cody. We're exactly alike, except I'm funnier, better-looking, and chicks dig me."

Phoebe couldn't fight the giggle that burst from her mouth, despite her disapproval at his use of the word 'chicks'. "Well Zack, How long are you staying here?"

"We live here. Our Mom's the Cabaret singer. I can get you into her show for free… that is, if you went with me."

"Boy, you don't give up do you?" She shook her head. "Well, I'm going up to my Suite with my sisters now, so I guess I'll see you around." Phoebe brushed past him to rejoin Paige.

"Count on it, Sweet Thang."

……

"It's Halliwell, with an H. I booked it a week ago." Piper practicall snarled at the manager.

"I'm sorry Ms. Halliwell, but I don't have any record of you making a reservation." He replied in his dignified accent.

Piper smiled coldly. "Alright listen…" she peered at the desk-plate, "Marion. I'm a business mansager too, and I know how crazy things can get, and how demanding customers can be." Without warning she grabbed the poor man by his tie, and pulled him close enough to speak directly into his ear. "But I'm also a mom. One that hasn't had a vacation in a really, _really_ long time, and one that didn't fly all the way here from San Fransisco to be told that my reservation has been lost. Now I have the potential to make your life a living nightmare if you don't get my sisters and I a suite _tonight!_ "

In all Marion Moseby's years, he had never met someone quite as frightening as this woman. His voice was reduced to a shrill whisper. "I'll see if anything opens up."

"Thank you." She huffed, releasing him. She rejoined her sisters to break the news.

Moseby just shook his head and returned to his work when the phone rang. "Tipton Hotel, how may I help you? Oh Mr. Tipton… yes, she's fine. Still angry about your business venture though. I'll say that put quite a strain on all of us. Oh… so it's serious now. Yes I'll tell her… No I won't tell the staff. But with all do respect, Sir we can't take this lightly… Well of course not. There _is _no way to tell that many people they'll soon be out of a job… Of course Sir. Yes, goodbye. " Moseby hung up the phone, utterly dismayed, when he was suddenly ripped from his thoughts by London slamming her palms on the desk.

"Moseby! If Daddy calls today, I don't care what he says. He's not selling this hotel!"

Moseby quickly placed a hand over her mouth. "Miss Tipton, will you kindly keep it down. I don't want anyone finding out prematurely.

London looked like someone had just told her that her pomeranian had just been run over. "So he was serious?"

Moseby seemed to share her feeling for the situation. "As a matter of fact, that was him. And he said that Mr. Carlisle was giving him a very generous offer."

"But this is my home." London pouted.

"Your father wanted me to remind you that he has several more locations around the world that would be suitable for you."

"But it won't be _this_ one. It's not right. I took my first steps on this lobby floor. I met my best friends here. That couch is where I got the idea to start my own store. Does any of that matter?" Knowing she had already lost the argument, London stormed away. Moseby had never seen her so distraught, certainly never this serious. Normally she was so carefree and, even though he didn't like to bring it up, a little air-headed. But ever since she had learned this hotel's fate, she had become angry and depressed.

All he could do was shake his head and whisper. "I know. I know." He returned to his work, completely unaware of the little blonde boy hiding behind a nearby shrub, who had heard everything.

Cody ran to the candy-counter and pulled his brother into the elevator before he could protest. "Zack, you're never going to believe this."

……

Cody stormed through the living room of his Suite in a rage. Their mother wasn't home from grocery shopping yet, and he was dreading telling her the news. He stomped into his room, and nearly slammed the door in his brother's face.

"Whoa!" Zack exclaimed, catching the door before it swung into his nose. "What is the matter with you?"

"How can you even ask that? You heard Moseby! Mr. Tipton is selling this hotel! We'll be out of a home, Mom will be out of a job, and we might never see anyone again!" Cody clenched his fists until his fingernails were digging into his palms.

"I know, but what can _we_ do? We're just kids." Zack tried to comfort his brother. He remembered the last time Cody had been like this. It had been when their parents had divorced. And they had been just as powerless then.

"That's your answer for everything! You're always perfectly content to just go with the flow! Well I'm not letting this slip by us! We have to FIGHT THIS!!!"

_Whoosh!_ The second Cody's rage boiled over, there was a rush of air, and a glint of metal. One of the trophies on their dresser had flown off his shelf, straight for Zack, who let out a squeal of panic, and threw up his hands to protect himself.

Then the trophy was caught in midair, and engulfed in flames. It fell to the floor with a mundane clang, scorched, and no longer resembling its original shape in the slightest.

"What was that?" They whispered in unison. They stared at eachother with their eyes bulging out of their sockets. After awhile of standing in silence, Cody moved to pick up the trophy.

"Oh no!" Cody breathed

"What?"

"This was my Spelling Bee trophy."

Zack sighed and shook his head. "Do you think…"

"I don't know." Cody replied.

"Should we try it again?" He asked.

Cody thought for a moment, then looked back at their row of trophies. He squinted at Zack's basketball trophy. He tried to get angry again, and with a twitch of his chin, it flew off the shelf towards Zack.

"Hey!" He cried, but it was too late. Zack threw up his hands to stop the renegade trophy, and it was swallowed in the fire that shot from his hands. This time the flames stayed to dance on his palms. He flipped them up to look. "Hey." he grinned, then he began tossing the flames back & forth between his hands. "Now this is cool."

"Not cool." Cody grabbed his wrist. "You're going to burn our room down."

Zack frowned, and clenched his fists, extinguishing the flames.

"Didn't that burn you?" Cody gasped.

"No." Zack replied, matter-of-factly. "It just feels warm."

The two sat there for awhile, not sure where to go from here. After several minutes, Cody broke the silence.

"Do you think we should tell Mom?"

"Tell her what?" Zack huffed. "That we just turned our room into a war zone with some freaky powers we just discovered? That'll go over real well."

Cody thought for a moment. Then something struck him. Something he didn't like. "What if she knows about this?"

"What?" Zack said doubtingly. "Mom would've warned us about something like this."

"Well think about it. This couldn't have just come from nowhere. And we know we're not adopted. That home-movie we watched proved that." They both shuddered.

"But why…" Zack began, but Cody cut him off.

"Shh." Their mother's voice was drifting from the living room through their bedroom door. They hadn't heard her come home. She in turn mustn't have heard their scuffle, otherwise she wouldn't be arguing as openly as she was now.

"It thought we both agreed you wouldn't do anything until _I _said they were old enough." The twins poked their head through the door a crack. Their mother, Carey Martin was on the phone. "Well isn't that convenient." She replied o whoever she was arguing with. "This isn't a question of trust Natalia! _I _am their mother, and you overstepped your bounds." She sighed. "Of course I'm grateful, but you were supposed to wait for my decision before you unbound their powers."

The twins looked at each other, both equally stunned. Their mother _had_ known.


	3. Chapter 2: A Crossing of Paths

A/N: The usual disclaimers. Don't own Suite Life, or Charmed. Okay, still not much of a chapter, but you get to meet the villains in this one. That's always fun! Please R&R

Chapter Two: A Crossing of Paths

"Well I've done it, and there's no changing that." Natalia stated nonchalantly into the cell phone, sitting rather comfortably in the armchair in the far corner of the lobby.

"It thought we both agreed you wouldn't do anything until _I _said they were old enough." Carrey snapped at her from the other side of the line. Natalia could tell that thirteen years of parenting had hardened the woman. There had been a time when Carey wouldn't have _dared_speak to her like this

"Sorry, but my time-table was pushed up." She replied in her dry smooth velvety voice.

"Well isn't that convenient."

"What's the matter? Don't you trust me?

"This isn't a question of trust Natalia! _I _am their mother, and you overstepped your bounds."

"Watch your tongue." Natalia cautioned. "I might take your attitude as a sign of ungratefulness." She heard Carey sigh.

"Of course I'm grateful, but you were supposed to wait for my decision before you unbound their powers."

"I never agreed to that." The sorceress replied flatly. "I simply agreed to bind their powers until they were old enough to make the choice; meaning that I would unbind them at _my _discretion. Consider this a lesson in making pacts with demons." And with that, Natalia snapped the phone shut, and quickly stuffed it into her coat pocket.

She detested using that thing, just as she regarded technology in general with distaste. Too complicated, and highly overrated. Keeping her ears glamoured all the time to look human was becoming a nuisance as well. She had come to miss that fine point that they usually came to. But she had come to enjoy her "under the surface" approach to her operations in the human world, and would continue to do so until the time was right.

As it turned out, the time was right sooner than she had expected. Her keen was picking up some familiar voices.

"I told you we should've orbed." Paige groaned, still holding her stomach.

"It's okay sweetie." Phoebe consoled. "Just eat these, and you'll feel better."

"Well," Piper cut in. , "the manager said he lost our reservation, but he'll let us know if something opens up."

"Well that sucks. Can't we just whip up a spell and fix that?" Phoebe inquired.

"Aah, personal gain!" Piper scolded. "And on top of that, this is supposed to be a non-charmed vacation!"

"Ahem, baby sister in pain." Paige reminded them.

So the Charmed Ones were here, and not a moment too soon. Natalia debated whether or not to reveal herself when she caught sight of the twins, poking their heads out of the elevator. No doubt, they were looking for her.

"That was quick." She muttered. "Time for a change in atmosphere. I'm getting rather bored with casual." She cast her violet eyes around the lobby till she found what she was looking for; a tall lanky handyman with enormous glasses, and a receding hairline. He was currently encumbered with a giant tool chest, various extension cords, and a ridiculous looking invention tucked under one arm. Perfect.

She slipped her leg directly into his path, causing him to loose his footing, and go careening out of control like something out of a cartoon. "Look out! I can't stop!" He cried, tumbling directly into Piper's path.

"Whoa!" Piper threw up her hands, freezing the entire room. Everyone in the lobby froze where they stood, in the middle of whatever they were doing. Well almost everyone.

"What happened?" Cody breathed.

"Do you think we did it?"

Their questions were soon answered by the three women in the center of the lobby.

"So much for no magic." Piper muttered. "What are we going to do about his clown?"

"Piper, are you crazy?!" Phoebe cried. "Somebody could walk in any… Uh-oh." Phoebe had also noticed they weren't the only ones who remained un-frozen. The twins ducked back into the elevator, but not before Piper noticed them as well.

"Alright, I saw you. Now come out with you hands up. I catch a glimpse of an energy ball, and you're dead."

"Piper!" Phoebe exclaimed.

"What? They didn't freeze. That usually means demon."

"But demons who look like kids?"

"They wouldn't be the first."

"Forget _them_." Paige breathed. "We've got bigger problems." And she was right. From the far corner of the lobby, Natalia rose out of her seat.

If Piper had been angry before, she was boiling beyond furious now, at this rather unwelcome re-entrance of the amethyst-eyed sorceress. "What are _you _ doing here?"

"Nice to see you too Piper. What's wrong? Charmed duties wearing you down?"

"Don't count on it." Phoebe interjected.

"One more time." Piper threatened. "What are you doing here Natalia? And none of that cryptic crap. Demonic sorceresses don't make friendly visits. If you're not here to kill us, it usually means you want something. "

"Always so quick to get to the point." Natalia smiled coldly. "As a matter of fact, I'm here regarding the boys you just threatened to combust."

"Hah! I knew they were demons."

"Witches actually. I thought you knew, that's why you were here."

"No we were _supposed_to be here on vacation."

Phoebe dashed to the elevator to get a better look at the two frightened boys inside. "Piper, you scared them. You should know better you're a mom. Come on out, it's okay. We won't hurt you. My sister's just crazy, she didn't mean it." She coaxed the twins out of the elevator. They both took a good look at the faces that were staring at them. "So I guess you're kind of new to the whole witch thing huh?" She prodded.

"Witches?" Zack moaned. "That's what we are? Man, I thought we were superheroes.

Cody remained silent, his eyes fixed on the woman standing apart from the sisters. "You're… Natalia. Our mom was talking to you."

"Cody, right?" She replied. "Blessed with telekinesis. As a matter of fact, your mother and I go way back. You were a baby when I saw you last."

"What are you talking about?" Piper demanded.

Perhaps we should move this conversation somewhere else, before the room un-freezes." Natalia pointed out in that insufferably arrogant tone of hers. Despite Piper's feelings, the room unfroze, causing poor Arwin to tumble over with a crash. When he got up to apologize, the woman he had been about to hit was nowhere to be found.

**----------****----------**

"And that gentlemen, is how buying out the Tipton Hotel Boston, and converting it into one of our buildings will make our profits soar to new heights, never before attainable." Helen Stryker continued her pitch. Her crimson lips were moving at ninety-miles-per-hour, matching her startling flame-red curls, held in a tight bun, going perfectly with her usual black business suit.

"On behalf of my husband Rupert," she indicated the man behind her, running her slide-show, with close-cropped brown hair, and goatee, dressed in similar attire. "And Mr. Carlisle," She gestured to her employer who sat at the head of the table with slick dark hair, and beady black eyes. "I make no exaggeration when I say this is the offer of your lives." She concluded, and was met with applause as the lights came back on.

"The board members began filing out of the room, shaking hands with Carlisle, Helen, and Rupert respectively. "Excellent work Miss Stryker." Said one. "You and your husband make a great team. I'd hang onto them Carlisle."

"I intend to." The CEO replied.

"We're not going anywhere, right muffin?" Rupert teased, putting his arm around Helen to kiss her forehead.

Once the board members were out of the room, the three remained. Carlisle listened for awhile as their footsteps faded down the hall. "We're alone." He hissed. Helen shoved Rupert away.

"Cut that out Brother. It's creepy." She whined.

"But necessary to keep up the ruse, Sister."

"Stop your squabbling." Carlisle growled, before he fell over unconscious. In his place stood a tall, gaunt, pale, but nevertheless intimidating young man, shrouded in a dark cloak. His long black hair was pulled into a braid that hung in the middle of his back. Black, intricate tribal markings on his face made his gray eyes appear even more piercing. Helen and Rupert dropped to their knees, keeping their heads bowed.

"Tie him up." The Heir indicated Carlisle. "Before he awakens."

"Yes my lord." Rupert complied, moving to bind the CEO his master had been possessing.

"Your brother is correct." The Heir spoke to Helen, spreading his cloak to resume his seat, which became a dark throne once he was in it. "Everything done thus far is instrumental to my plan to ascend to the throne, to my birthright, that the Charmed Ones so cruelly denied me. I summoned you two because, unlike demons and warlocks, Darklighters do as they're told, when they're told. Keep things going as smoothly as they are, and you and your kind will ascend to my right hand. Now, has Mathias staked out the territory yet?"

"He said there were complications." Helen replied. "A coven of warlocks is already on the move for it, and he claimed to have insufficient forces."

"He'll have to be dealt with. And what of the Brute demon? Has he completed his mission?" As if to please The Heir, a hulking figure shimmered into the room.

"Just as you asked my liege." He said in his low grating tone. The gigantic demon dropped to one knee, presenting The Heir with a black, intricately carved wooden box with a pentagram on its surface. "It wasn't easy. Even when I discovered its location, two guardian angels blocked my path." He indicated the gruesome scorch-marks along his left arm.

The Heir nodded, and gestured for Helen to bring him the box. He seemed pleased when he opened it. "When I ascend, you will be rewarded."

"I live only to serve you, my liege."

"Is that so?" The Heir smiled darkly. He gestured with his hand, and suddenly Mathias, a short, squat sorcerer was standing at the brute's side, looking confused, and quaking in his robes. The Heir extended his arm, which was marked as intricately as his face, towards the chubby sorcerer. A beam of pure dark energy shot from his palm and into Mathias' chest.

The sorcerer let out a shriek as the beam engulfed him in flames. In moments he was reduced to a pile of ash, surely bound for the wasteland.

"You've just been promoted." The Heir stated. "You will begin where your predecessor left off. Stake out the territory."

The Brute smiled wickedly before shimmering for parts unknown.

"You two," The Heir motioned to his draklighters. "Back to the underworld, we have work to do." He ordered before flaming out, followed by the Stryker twin's trail of black orbs.

Once the room was empty, Max felt safe enough to emerge. "Finally." The young whitelighter muttered to herself, becoming visible again. "I don't know why Natalia still has me stationed here." Max had already done her fair share in this area as far as she was concerned. She hadn't found out anything new for weeks now, and she didn't particularly enjoy being a lackey for the demon sorceress.

Natalia had a reputation "Up There" as something of a double-agent. She claimed to take no sides besides her own, whatever that meant. She had many connections on both sides, including The Elders. Rumors persisted that she may have even had ties to the Angels of Destiny. So despite their better judgment, The Elders not only worked with her when the need arose, they occasionally supplied her with a whitelighter or two, to do her dirty work.

"I swear, it's like they're _trying _to get rid of me." She cursed as she continued to search the room for clues. She found nothing, as usual.

The Elders were in fact, less than enthusiastic whenever they sent Max into the field. The brown-eyed girl was surprisingly feisty for a whitelighter. She always preferred fighting demons directly, rather than guide those who were supposed to do it. This consequently put herself, and sometimes her charges in danger.

She sighed. "Why couldn't I have just been a witch instead?" At least this hadn't been a total loss. She wondered what Natalia would make of that box.

"What are you doing here?" a voice behind her demanded. She turned, startled to see a demon in the doorway behind her. A Celerity Demon by the look of the pronged gauntlet on his hand. She was getting sloppy.

"Just leaving." She said sweetly, and waved at him tauntingly. In a rage, he charged at her with lightning speed, just as she had expected. She orbed out of the way, and he ran right into the wall. Max reformed behind him, and with a graceful twirl, she pulled the athame she kept hidden in her coat, and plunged it into his back. She stifled his yell before he disintegrated. That was one good thing about demons. They cleaned up after themselves quite nicely, most of the time.

"Time to go. The sooner I report to that psychopath, the better." She grunted before orbing out.


	4. Chapter 3: Interrogations

A/N: Sorry it took so long y'all. I've been crazy busy at the bakery I work at with the holidays. Every body's waiting until the _last_minute to order their pies. I'm not looking forward to December. Sorry for the rant. Here you go.

Chapter 3: Interrogations

Carrie sat on her sofa, twiddling her thumbs anxiously, waiting for her boys to get home. What was taking them so long? Had Natalia already gotten to them? No, she wouldn't dare. More importantly, had they already discovered what they were? If Natalia had really unbound their powers, it was only a matter of time before they discovered them. What would she tell them? How would she explain her decision? She couldn't wait any longer.

She leapt from the couch, and sprinted for the door. She reached for the knob, only to see it turn o its own, before the door swung open. Zack & Cody slammed right into her.

"Mom!" Zack cried, embracing her tightly. Cody was silent, and his hug seemed cold, and half-hearted. Carey's heart sank. They _had _found out. She kissed them on their foreheads, waiting for the questions to come.

"Isn't that just heart-breaking." Came an all too familiar voice. Carey lifted her gaze to meet the dark specter in her doorway. Natalia hadn't aged a day from the last time they had seen each other, thirteen years ago, when the pact had been made. "Carey Martin, the years have been good to you. Have a seat." She stated dryly. "You're about to have company." She crossed the room, and took a seat in the armchair, as if she belonged there. She hadn't changed one bit.

"What did you tell them?" Carey demanded.

"Nothing yet." The Natalia smiled coldly.

"Alright Nat, I want answers, RIGHT NOW!!!" Piper stormed into the suite, shaking an angry finger at the sorceress.

"Who are you?" Carey asked, confused at this second intrusion.

"Hi, we're the Charmed Ones," came Phoebe's voice, who sounded a little embarrassed at her sister's apparent lack of tact. "Nice to meet you."

Carey's eyes bulged out of her head. "I'm sorry, did you say The Charmed Ones?"

"Yeah, covered that. Busy here!" Piper barked.

"Alright, alright." Natalia continued to patronize. "No need to be impatient."

"Hah!"

Natalia crossed her legs gingerly before continuing. "I'm here, simply because something big is about to happen in this very spot. Something that will tip the scales between good and evil dramatically. I don't know what it is, or when, I'm not a seer. I just know it's going to happen soon.

"So who's backing you this time, the Elders, The dark priests, The Brotherhood of the Thorn… The Angel of Destiny?"

"My sources are none of your concern." Natalia snapped.

"Well, there's one easy way of doing this. Leo! LEO!" Natalia sighed as Leo's orbs materialized behind his wife. He placed a hand on Piper's shoulder.

"What is it?... Oh, hi Nat." The demoness, waved half-heartedly at him. "Is she helping us, or fighting us right now?"

"That's actually what we called _you _for."

"Is he a witch too?" Zack breathed in awe of Leo's means of entry.

"No sweetie." Phoebe whispered back. "He's a whitelighter. They're… well, they're kind of like guardian angels for good witches. You probably have one too."

"Cool! Do we mom?"

"Huh? Oh sorry." Carrie studdered. "I'm still getting over the Charmed Ones being in my living room."

"You know them?" Cody inquired, although he sounded a little more annoyed than curious.

"Alright Leo, spill." Piper chastised her husband. "Is she working with the Elders again, 'cause if she is, they have some serious explaining to do sending us here!"

"I don't know. I heard rumors that she was back, but I didn't think it had anything to do with you."

"Well you better find out, or you're in for it mister. And don't forget the elf nanny for Wyatt if you're going to be long." Leo frowned, looking like a scolded child before orbing out. Not a moment later, Paige orbed into the room where he had just been standing.

"Whew, that orb to the roof did the trick. I feel loads better. So, what'd I miss?"

"Well, same old, same old." Piper sighed. "This place is about to become a battleground for good & evil, we're caught in the middle, and the vacation dream just went down the tubes .

"Okay, and I'm sick again." Paige tried to plop onto the sofa, but found it occupied. "Oh, sorry. I'm Paige, nice to meet you. You must be Zack & Cody's mom. Lucky you, how may moms can brag that their kids can throw fire, am I right?"

"I thought you said she was a witch." Zack turned to Phoebe again.

"On her mom's side." She explained. "See, she's actually our half-sister. Don't ask, you'll just get a head-ache."

"That reminds me." Piper continued her ruthless interrogation. "How do they fit into all of this?" She indicated the twins. Natalia was about to reply, but Carey cut her off.

"No offense, but that's a discussion I'd rather save for later, as a family." Before Piper could argue, the doorbell rang. Piper looked accusingly in Natalia's direction. The sorceress shook her head, signaling she had nothing to do with it. She looked to her sister, who nodded, and took position by the door.

"Ready?" Phoebe asked, reaching for the knob. Paige reached for the kitchen counter behind her, and grabbed the skillet that had been left out from breakfast.

"Ready."

"Phoebe turned the knob slowly, then threw the door open, and swung her leg at whoever was waiting. "Aii-ee!" She screeched, kicking the visitor's legs out from under them. Without skipping a beat, she planted a foot on their, chest before finally getting a good look at their face.

"What is wrong with you?!" Maddie groaned.

"Maddie? What are you doing here?" Phoebe asked, as she helped her victim to her feet.

"I'm here to bay-sit the twins. What's you're excuse Jackie Chan?"

Oh no, Carey thought to herself. She had completely forgotten. "This is the week I'm supposed to go to Central Park with Kurt!" She raked her hair in annoyance.

Cody's interest perked up at the mention of his father.

Carey rose out of her seat, and stared angrily down at Natalia. "You planned it this way, didn't you!"

"I did no such thing. Things merely worked out in my favor."

"Is this a bad time?" Maddie chimed.

"Actually, yes. Maddie, could you step outside for a minute?"Maddie looked around at everyone in the room, looking dejected. But she did as Carey asked. "I can't go."

"No Mom, you have to!" Zack cried. "Dad sounded so excited when you told him!"

"He's right." Natalia agreed, clearly enjoying how trapped Carey was feeling. "Isn't his career riding on this? Record deals like that don't come along everyday, and that little duet of yours should seal the deal."

"Like I'd really leave my boys while _you're_ here." Carey growled. She could swear she saw Natalia chuckle.

"Hmm, here's a wacky idea." Paige interjected. "We _are _ the Charmed Ones. We could stay with your boys, and make sure she doesn't touch 'em."

"Thank you, that's very kind of you, but I can't drag you into this."

"Ah sure you can. The entire magical community does." Paige waved her off. "Besides, I don't think we have a place to stay at the moment."

"So we're spending our vacation protecting innocents." Piper snorted.

"Piper!" Phoebe scolded.

"Well I'm just saying."

Carey looked at her sons, then at the sisters, then at Natalia, then back to her sons. "But…" she began.

"Go Mom." Cody spoke for the first time in awhile. As much as he wanted answers, he knew how important this record deal was for their dad. And he had always wanted his mom & dad to spend time together. He tried to smile at his mother, but it was hollow. Carey stared at her son, confused, and sad.

"Alright." She said finally. "I uh… guess I'd better go now if I want to…" shje had to clear her throat, "beat the traffic." She took both sons in her arms. "I love you." She breathed. She went to her room, and gathered her things. Before she reached the door, she glared at Natalia venomously. "Don't you dare try to interfere while I'm gone."

The sorceress held up her right hand, revealing the odd birthmark on her palm; a fire-colored eye with dark bat-like wings on either side. "I swear. I won't reveal anything," she paused, "without being asked." Her purple eyes flickered towards the twins for the briefest of seconds, then back to Carey. The thoughruly depressed mother of two left with one last glance at her sons, before opening the door to explain to Maddie that her "cousins", the Halliwell sisters were going to look after the twins.

"Alright," Piper began "I didn't want to do this, but it looks like we are. Paige, could you orb to the manor, and get the Book of Shadows, and Phoebe, you should probably go down to the lobby, and poke around. See if anything sounds demonic."

"as fun as this all sounds," Natalia rose from her chair "I have work to do elsewhere. I'll be right down the hall if you need me." She sank to the floor, taking the form of a shadow that slunk out the door.

"Now that's cool." Zack said admiringly. "Can I learn how to do that?"

"Only if you turn evil, sweetie." Phoebe teased.

"Okay, the Dr. Phil show is over people, let's go." Piper demanded.

"Um… Piper" Phoebe interrupted. "They've been through a lot today. Do you think we can wait till tomorrow to get started on our demon hunt?" Piper was about to argue, but she couldn't look at Zack's gleaming eyes, or Cody's disturbed frown, and say that Phoebe was wrong.

"Alright." She relented.

"Thank you!' Phoebe gushed, pulling her sister into a tight squeeze.

"But I'd still feel better if we had the book."

"I'm on it." Paige chimed, holding out her hands. "Book!" In a sparkle of orbs, the thick leather-bound Book of Shadows appeared in her waiting arms. "Here you go." Paige handed the book to her sister.

"Thank you."

Phoebe pulled up one of the wooden table chairs, and straddled it, facing the twins. She put on the friendliest smile she could muster. "So, I bet you two have questions. Well we've got answers. Bring 'em on."

--------------------

At this point, the suite that had been rented to Natalia, no longer resembled itself in the slightest. She had transformed the room, to the point where it looked more like the inside of a twelfth century castle. The bed had been replaced by a massive bookshelf that took up most of the wall. She had accumulated quite the collection of magical texts over the years, some of which she had written herself.

The once homely living room now looked more like a war chamber. Maps hung all around the walls, of other lands, other worlds, other planes. In the center was an hexagonal marble table with a symbol, identical to Natalia's birthmark, emblazoned on its polished surface. At the head of the table, Natalia sat in a high-backed chair with violet cushioning. An ancient tome lay open in front of her. Without looking away from the pages before her, the sorceress spoke to the seemingly empty room.

"I know you're there Max." There was a grunt, and a curse before the young whitelighter emerged from the corner she had been lurking invisibly in. She stormed to the opposite side of the table to face Natalia.

"You can dispense with the attitude, little one. The potion I gave you masks your presence from The Heir, and anyone linked to him. That doesn't mean me."

"Stop calling me that! Working with you is hard enough without you dumping on me!"

"Settle down." Natalia smirked at the brown-eyed girl. ""Just give me your report, like a good girl."

Max growled, but did as she was told. "The brute demon came back."

"And what did he bring with him?"

"Some black box."

"Did you see what was inside?"

"No." Max admitted. "But he did say that he had to fight two guardian angles to get it."

"Then it _must_be important. Anything else?"

"The Heir killed his sorcerer for not staking the territory fast enough. The Brute demon took his place."

"What was keeping the sorcerer?" Natalia asked, still not looking away from her tome.

"There's a warlock coven after it too. They were interfering."

"Interesting." The sorceress placed her fingers to her chin. "Two factions trying to get a corporate foothold with the same territory." She mused. "Anything else?"

"No, that's everything." Max stated a little too quickly. Natalia looked up from her book for the first time, and quirked an eyebrow at her. "What?"

"Did anyone see you?" she demanded.

"No!"

"Why are you lying to me?"

"I'm not!"

Natalia stretched her hand towards the girl, and the young whitelighter gasped as her coat and shirt were lifted past her midriff of their own accord, revealing a pair of neat cuts where the Celerity demon had grazed her. Max tugged her clothes back down indignantly. "So what? I vanquished him before he could make a sound. What's the big deal?"

"The 'big deal' is that you are getting careless. One slip, and everything I've worked for could fall apart."

"Cry me a river." Max retorted.

"Demon." Natalia reminded her.

"Well you're one to talk about lying! The Heir coming back, demons trying to buy out this hotel, this is all stuff the Elders should know about! Yet you're keeping me here with you when the Elders could've ended this already."

"Hardly." Natalia snorted.

Max placed her hands on the table, and leaned in glaring. "You know, the only reason I'm doing what you ask is because the Elders told me told me to. I work for _them, _not you. I can go up there right now, and tell them, and there'd be nothing you can do about it."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Natalia warned. "Not if you want your charges to remain alive." Max's eyes grew wider than fists.

"Don't you _dare _drag them into this!" she screeched. She tried to sound as furious as she could, but panic still managed to emit from her outburst. She wasn't the most by-the-book whitelighter, but nothing meant more to her than her charges, and she had seen firsthand how dangerous this woman could be.

"They're already in it." Natalia replied in her dry casual tone. "The Charmed Ones are with them as we speak. They're under the impression that they're protecting them from me." She chuckled darkly.

"So…" Max began. "Does this mean they know?"

"They discovered their powers this morning." Natalia stated apathetically. "But that doesn't mean they know about you, and they won't, until I say."

"Ahh! Enough! I can't take this anymore! You're cryptic, you're mean, and you're controlling my every move! I've half a mind to quit here & now!"

"Maxine." Natalia hissed, stopping Max dead in her tracks. Max had seen some terrifying demons in her line of work, but they got their way by roaring and screeching. Natalia could freeze her where she stood with nothing more than a whisper.

"If things don't happen exactly how they're supposed to, your charges won't be ready. They won't be prepared. If this fails, you'll wish I were trying to kill them. Now go." The demoness waved her away. "If you're through with your report, I have nothing left to say to you."

Max turned to leave, but decided she could risk one more question. "What exactly do you want them to do? Take down The Heir?"

Natalia smiled coldly. "Don't be absurd. Not even the Charmed Ones could destroy The Heir. If the Power of Three wasn't enough, what hope could those boys have?

Max sighed. She couldn't help but feel that the sorceress knew more than she was letting on. She nodded curtly before orbing out. What else was new?


	5. Chapter 4: Taking in the Craft

A/N: Thanks for your patience. Sorry again. Winter is huge in the baking industry, and I haven't had much time. I have most of the chapters hand-written, it's just a matter of making time to type them. I'm not going to quit, in fact I'm already brainstorming a sequel. Anyways, here you go. Usual disclaimers, don't own anyone besides Nat. Enjoy!

Chapter 4: Taking in the Craft

The day had turned into night as Zack's questions dragged on. Cody remained silent most of the time, but joined in occasionally if something caught his interest. It took most of the night to satisfy Zack's thirst for more information about being a witch, as Phoebe covered everything from witches & whitelighters, to potions & incantations, to demons & warlocks. Cody had become very active in that part, albeit in a more pessimistic capacity.

Meanwhile Piper had cooked dinner, and Paige orbed to the manor to get supplies (including the rollaway bed for herself since she refused to share the sofa-bed with her sisters). Now it was the next morning, (7:00 am to be exact) and Zack was at it again.

"Phoebe, quick! Wake up! You promised you'd take me out for some training!"

Phoebe groaned, and blocked the sun from her eyes. "When I said I'd train you, I didn't mean at the crack of dawn."

Piper roused herself, and pulled herself to a sitting position. "Phoebe, you promised him, and you might as well start getting ready for whatever we're up against."

"It'll still be there at… noon or so." Phoebe moaned, turning over onto her stomach. Piper looked at Zack, then back at Phoebe before kicking her over the edge of the sofa. Phoebe rolled and landed on the floor with an indignified grunt. Phoebe got to her feet, and brushed herself off. "Luxurious five-star hotel my a…"

"Phoebe." Piper cut her off, reminding her that there was a minor present.

"Well bite my head off for wanting to sleep in on my vacation!" Phoebe snapped.

"Never-mind, lets just go!" Zack cheered, beginning to drag Phoebe by the hand while she tried to pull her capris on.

"Zack," Piper halted him. "Where's your brother? I thought he was going too."

"He won't come out of his room. He's like this whenever our mom leaves." He leaned towards Piper to whisper. "He has some 'mommy issues.'"

Before Piper could scold, phoebe interrupted. "Wait, Piper, don't you need me to do some digging?" She was practically pleading.

"No it's fine. Paige is already getting ready, I'll have her do it."

"But…"

"You heard her. You're all mine for the day sweet thang." Zack crowed as he dragged Phoebe out of the room.

"Hey Zack, don't forget…" Piper was cut off by the door closing. "Breakfast." She shook her head before getting up. As she pulled her top over her head, she pondered how in one day, _one day _her dream vacation with her sisters had turned into yet another demon-infested fiasco. Paige came out of the bathroom, just as Piper was about to fold the sofa back in. "Morning sweetie. Could you help me with this?"

"Sure." Paige complied, bending to help her sister lift. "So grunthow are the twins?"

"Well, Zack is going with Phoebe to practice his power, and…" Piper gave one last grunt before the mattress folded neatly back into the couch. "And Cody's shut up in his room."

"Well, who can blame him? It's a lot to handle."

"Yeah." Piper agreed. "One of us should go talk to him."

"Yeah." Paige agreed back, nodding her head.

Piper narrowed her eyes at her sister. "Oh, well don't all jump up at once." She said sarcastically, before storming towards the bedroom.

"What?" Paige asked defensively. "I'm busy with the… ah never mind." She waved it off before exiting.

Piper knocked twice, and waited by the door. There was no answer. She took a deep breath before letting herself in. She found Cody curled up on his bed, still in his pajamas. "Hey."

Cody jumped, and backed away when he saw who it was.

"Oh, no it's okay sweetie. I didn't really mean it when I said I'd blow you up. I was just a little… um… nevermind."Cody relaxed a little, but kept a wary eye on her. She leaned farther into the room. "How come you're not going with your brother?"

He stared at the floor. "I didn't feel like going."

"Oh." Was all Piper could say at the moment. She took a seat at the foot of the bed. "Yeah, it's a lot to take in." He still didn't say anything. She took a look at his wall, and was quite impressed to see several awards of academic achievement hanging on it. She often fantasized Wyatt's room looking like this one day. "Wow, looks like you're quite the little scholar." He nodded a little. He tried to hide it, but Piper caught him blush. One of the awards caught her eye. It was a certificate for first place in a junior chef's cook-off. "Well, since you're not going to train, I could sure use some help in the kitchen."

Cody looked up at her slowly. "You cook?"

"I'm an ex-chef. I managed a restraint before I opened up a night club." She smiled as it became clear she was getting his attention. "But I'm a little rusty. If you feel like getting dressed I could use you out there." Cody's ear-to-ear smile was answer enough.

--------------------

Moseby was just finishing the last minute preparations for Mr. Carlisle's arrival when he caught sight of London with her nose in a dictionary. "London? What are you doing?"

She looked up at him, apparently in a much more chipper mood. "I'm studying for my conference."

"Conference?" Moseby asked, now thoroughly worried.

"To talk that…" She glanced back at her dictionary, "greedy tyrant out of buying this hotel."

Moseby nearly fainted. Big words were not London's cup of tea. "London, are you _trying _to get me fired?"

"Relax. I already called Daddy, and he said it was okay, as long as I set it up, and ran it."

"But you don't know the first thing about a presentation!"

"I know. That's what Maddie's for."

"Madeline!" Moseby called. Maddie came running over with a heavy box in her arms.

"Okay London, Arwin let us borrow his projector, so we're set for the… Oh hey Mr. Moseby!" She smiled, trying to look innocent.

Moseby growled. "Madeline, I thought you knew better by now than to get involved in London's hair-brained schemes."

Alright Mr. Moseby, I know this _sounds_like another hair-brained scheme, but London's worked really hard, and I think she might actually be able to pull this off." Maddie leaned in close to whisper in her employer's ear. "She actually used the word 'metaphorically' today, in the right context."

Moseby looked like he was about to argue, but London stopped him. "Moseby, tell the truth. Do you really want that…" She took another glance at her dictionary, "degenerate buying this hotel, and turning it into some cubicle infested office building, where their main concern is their stock instead of helping people?" Moseby shook his head, trying to make sense of what London had just said.

"I know." Maddie agreed. "She's scaring me too."

When the frazzled manager gathered his senses, he noticed Paige coming towards him. "Ah, Ms. Halliwell. I already told your sister I was sorry for the inconvenience."

"Oh no, that's not why I'm here."

"Oh." Moseby breathed a sigh of relief. The last thing he wanted was more bad news. "Alright. Then what can I do for you?"

"Actually, I was here to ask about this hotel being bought out."

Moseby took her aside quickly."Who told you about that?"

"That red-headed maid over there." Paige indicated Muriel.

"I was trying to keep that quiet Ms. Halliwell."

"It's actually Matthews, and why?"

"I didn't want the staff to find out, and… Ms. Ha… Matthews. Can I tell you something in confidence?"

"Uh, sure."

"Something about this whole take-over doesn't seem right." He whispered. "It doesn't make any sense why Mr. Tipton would want to sell this building. Or Why Carlisle wants it in the first place for that matter. It doesn't make any sense financially for either side. This building has always been Mr. Tipton's star location. It just doesn't feel right."

"Don't worry, I think I know what you mean." Paige thought for a moment. Perhaps her instincts had been right. There might be something demonic about the buy-out.

"LOOK OUT!!!" Came a voice from somewhere above. It was Arwin on a ladder on the opposite side of the lobby, trying to fix a light-bulb. Before Moseby & Paige's eyes, he and his enormous tool chest toppled over, and landed on the lobby floor with a crash.

Muriel gave him one glance before casually stepping over him. "I'm not cleaning that up."

Moseby groaned. "Yet another disaster. Sometimes I wonder why I took this job."

"Why did you?" Paige inquired.

Moseby looked taken aback by her question. "Well… I suppose it's because I like helping people. It always used to fill me with pride to see a guest smile." He hung his head. "But I suppose none of that will matter now. It's hard to believe that this will all soon be nothing more than a happy memory."

Paige frowned. "You know, it's not too late. Maybe some miracle will happen."

"Hmm, wishful thinking." He smiled. Then he looked back at London and Maddie as they tried to assemble projector, while going over their presentation. "You may have a point though. Thank you Miss Matthews."

"You're welcome?" Paige sounded a little befuddled. Maybe she'd be better at this whitelighter stuff than she thought.

Moseby went back to London, and put a hand on her shoulder. "London, I'm behind you one-hundred percent."

--------------------

"I still don't know why we didn't just do this at the park." Zack complained. He and Phoebe had taken the better part of the morning to find an abandoned playground.

"Because that would've exposed us." Phoebe explained. "If you want to be a good witch, there are two very important rules you need to follow. One: We use our powers to protect the innocent, not for personal gain. Two: We cannot let magic be exposed. That's the one thing both sides agreed on. To protect magic at all costs."

"Alright, fine. You're the pro at this."

"Thank you. Now, first things first. Show me your power."

"Alright." Zack took a breath. "Here goes." He threw up his hands. Nothing happened. He tried it again. Still nothing. He looked at his palms. "Uh… is there an on switch for these things?"

Phoebe chuckled. "You're fine, relax. When we start out, we have to find certain triggers. Think of them as training wheels. So, what triggered your power the first time?"

Zack thought for a moment. "Cody threw a trophy at me."

"Panic, just like Piper. Then I guess all you've got to do is THINK FAST!" That was all the warning he gave before spinning her leg at his face.

"Whoa!" He cried, throwing up his hands to block. Fire shot from his palms, and blasted Phoebe back. She landed with a thud. "Are you nuts?!"

"That was good." Phoebe encouraged, getting to her feet.

"Did I hurt you?"

"Nope. I cast a spell on my clothes. They won't catch fire."

"What about the blast?"

"Don't worry. I've had worse, and you won't be able to do it again."

"Why not?"

"Because my power is premonition. There's not a demon alive who can hit me with a fireball… well most of the time. Ready for another go?" She asked, dropping to a fighting stance.

Zack grinned, and did his best to mimic her. "Bring it on."

--------------------

"Alright." Cody told Piper. "The roast is in the oven, the ravioli is boiling, and the corn-on-the-cob is buttered and ready to go."

"Good, good." Piper smiled, adding the mandrake root to what she had boiling. She was glad Cody was no longer moping.

"What are you doing?" He asked, trying to peek into the pot.

"Well, I don't know what we're up against, so I'm making a vanquishing potion."

"Cody furrowed his brows at her. "What does it do?"

"Well, if it's strong enough for whatever demon we're fighting, we just throw it at him, and he goes boom."

"I thought you could already blow stuff up."

"Yes, but that doesn't always work. And if the demon… or _demons _are as strong as Nat says they are, I'm not taking any chances."

Natalia. Cody cringed at the name of the woman whose appearance had turned his life upside-down in a matter of hours. He could see those purple eyes digging into his mind, and that cold smile she wore, like she knew every private and personal thought he had. "So…" He began. "What exactly is Natalia?"

Piper continued stirring her potion, acting completely casual. "A demon sorceress who never does anything without an ulterior motive."

"So what does she want with me & Zack?"

"I don't know. But I do know I don't want you going anywhere near her." She warned while shaking her wooden spoon at him.

"You don't need to worry about me." He assured her. "Zack maybe, but not me."

"Why do you say that?"

Cody sighed. "He _never_ thinks ahead, about anything. It's like he has no thought for consequence. No vision of the future. Sometimes I wonder when he's finally going to grow up."

Piper smiled. She had heard those very words spoken before, by someone very close to her heart. She kept staring at him for a moment, until he shifted uncomfortably.

"What?"

"Oh… nothing. It's just… you reminded me of someone."

Cody looked at her curiously. "Who?"

Piper pulled out her wallet, and opened it to a picture. Piper and Phoebe were standing in front of some stone steps that led to a beautiful Victorian-styled manor. In between them was a taller dark-haired girl with a mole by her nose, and beautiful cat-like green eyes. "That's my big sister Prue." She told him. "She was a Charmed One too. She had the power of telekinesis, just like you. She was always the strong one."

Cody ran his fingers over the photo, wrapped in a sort of reverence for the woman in it. "Wait," he stopped "_was _the strong one?" Piper's face dropped a little, and he thought he saw tears trying to break through. "What happened to her?"

"She, uh…" Piper had to clear her throat before continuing. "She was killed, trying to save an innocent." Cody froze, and Piper put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm not going to lie to you Cody. This is a dangerous job. There are a lot of risks involved. Prue knew it, and so do we."

Cody looked back at the floor. "Then why do you do it?"

Piper raised his head to make him look at her. "You know, I ask myself the same question a lot. And do you know what I come up with?" He shook his head. "I get to go to bed every night, knowing that I made the world a safer place, for my son, for my husband, for everyone I care about, and that keeps me going."

Cody looked back at the pot. "Can I… help you with that?"

Piper smiled her warm motherly smile, and nodded. "Sure. But you have to tie your hair up first." She chided, reaching into her pocket for a rubberband.

"Are you serious?" He whined as she pulled his shaggy blond hair into a ponytail.

"Come on, potions are dangerous. It's either a ponytail or a hairnet." He groaned in protest. "Relax." She teased. "It looks hot."

"You think so?" He asked, trying to catch a glimpse in the mirror.

"Absolutely. Now come on, we've got a potion to make." A few hours later, the potion and the cooking were done. Cody even surprised her with a few of his suggestions. Afterwards, he surprised her again by asking her to show him how to use his powers. She tried to remember how Prue had done it. She told him everything she knew, and he seemed to catch on pretty fast. Eventually, he had even managed to channel his power through his hands (if only for a second). Piper even went so far as to believe he was beginning to enjoy being a witch.

It was in the middle of this lesson that the doorbell rang. Cody jumped, causing him to loose control of the glass he'd been moving across the table. It flew off, and shattered against the wall.

"Don't move." Piper warned. She inched towards the door, and wrapped her fingers around the knob. She took a deep breath, then flung the door open, and froze the visitor. She was relieved to see that it was only a brown-eyed girl with braided pigtails, no older than Cody. She sighed, and stepped aside so Cody could see. "Friend of yours?"

Cody's face brightened. "Max! She's back in town! Quick, unfreeze her! " Piper did so, and Cody ran to put his arms around her. "Max! I…" He pulled away quickly, clearly embarrassed. "I, uh… missed you."

She creased her eyebrows, confused by the awkward moment. "I… missed you too. Oh… you have company."

"Hi." Piper waved with a big smile. "I'm Piper; Zack & Cody's… cousin."

"Right." She nodded. "Hey what are you cooking? Smells good." She sniffed, heading for the pot.

"Oh, that's…" Cody dashed for the pot, and threw a kitchen towel over it, just in time. "That's just soup gone wrong. But… there's a roast in the oven. That is… if you want to stick around."

"I'd love to, but… I don't want to intrude."

"Don't be silly." Piper interrupted. "We cooked up a storm today. We'll need all the help we can get."

"That's okay." She smiled shyly. "I've got to be going." She caught sight of Cody's disappointed frown. "But I guess I could come back."

"Great!" Cody cheered. "I mean… if you want."

Max smiled. "Count on it." She turned to leave.

"Nice meeting you Max." Piper called before she shut the door behind her. She looked at Cody, who was still staring after her. "Soooo," She said teasingly. "Who was that?"

"Just a friend from school." Cody said defensively.

"Just a friend, or maybe a girlfriend?"

"What?" Cody cried. "No way!" Piper quirked an eyebrow at him. "Is it that obvious?" Piper just chuckled. "Well it doesn't really matter. She likes Zack better anyway."

"Now what would make you think that?"

"They're perfect for each other. They're both great dancers, and besides, all the girls like Zack."

"So she's a dancer?" Piper prodded.

"Ah she's awesome. It's like watching fire come to life." He cut off, feeling his face reddening to a rosy pink in his cheeks. "Never mind, let's just get another glass. I still want to learn how to channel with my hands."

Piper seemed to have another idea, as she reached for the stereo, and flipped it on. "It think you've learned enough witchcraft for one day." She moved the coffee table to the edge of the room. She took him by the hand, and led him to the middle of the floor. "For now, you shall learn to dance." Cody gulped as she grabbed his hand, and put it around her waist.

--------------------

Max hesitated before entering Natalia's chambers. She just tried to focus on that as soon as she gave her report, she'd be done for the day. She just hoped her invitation to dinner wouldn't come up. She took two steps inward when she was seized by the ear.

"What was that?" Natalia's voice was calm and level, but her death-grip on the poor girl's ear betrayed that.

"What are you talking about?" Max gasped.

"There's a roast in the oven, if you want to stick around. " She said, in perfect imitation of Cody's voice. "Count on it. " She finished with Max's.

"So what?" Max retorted, trying not to let the sorceress know how badly she was hurting her ear. Natalia shoved her away, sending her to collide with the great marble table.

"I may be many things," the demoness hissed, "but a fool I am not. I've seen the way you look at that one. How you act around him. Far more than you do with the other, which leads me to believe that your feelings for Cody go far beyond that of whitelighter and charge."

"I didn't mean for it to happen." Max panted.

"No one does. But that doesn't mean you can act on it. You will _not _attend dinner tonight."

"But…"

"No!" Natalia crossed the room to tower over the young whitelighter. "One more slip like that, and I'll have you re-assigned. Am I clear?"

"You can't do that." Max glared, trying to fight back the tears.

"I think you'll find that I can and will."

Max threw the cold woman one last defiant glare before orbing out. She didn't want to give the sorceress the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

--------------------

"Perfect." Paige grinned from her stake-out point from across the street. "Now I'll find out if this takeover is hostile, or demonic." She ducked behind a tree, and pulled out a pair of binoculars she had packed, as the stretch limbo pulled up.

The doors opened, and out stepped a man and a woman, both in black business suits. The man had dark brown buzzed hair, and a goatee. The woman had startling flame-red curls in a tight bun, and wore heavy scarlet lipstick.

Paige lowered her binoculars as her senses kicked in. What she sensed wasn't good. "You have _got _to be kidding me."

The darklighters across the street sensed something as well. Rupert sniffed the air twice before turning to Helen. "Smell that sister?"

Helen followed suit, and sniffed the air. "Yeah. Whitelighter.

A/N: Have you ever wondered what the actors we write about would think about our stories, if they ever read them? They probably get angry at how horrendously out of character some of us make them. If I ever make any of these characters out of character, I demand to be flamed!


	6. Chapter 5: Evil Past an Present

A/N: Many thanks for your reviews, and your patience. They're much appreciated. Usual disclaimers. No ownership or profit, yada-yada-yada.

Chapter 5: Evil- Past and Present

"You sensed what?" Piper moaned.

"You heard me." Paige told her. "Darklighters."

"That's not good." Piper shook her head.

"What are Darklighters?" Cody asked.

"Evil counterparts to whitelighters. They're assassins for hire that carry crossbows with poison arrows designed to kill whitelighters, which is why Paige is not going back out there."

"Oh come on!" Paige protested.

"No. Out of the question. Besides, you've already done your job. You confirmed that whatever we're up against is also behind the takeover."

So Carlisle's a demon?" Cody interjected.

"Possibly." Piper replied. "More likely he's being possessed by a demon."

"They can do that?" Cody tried not to let his voice tremble. Paige continued her argument as if he hadn't spoken.

"Which is why I should go back and meet him so I can figure it out."

"For the last time, no. We'll just have top get Phoebe back here, and see if she can get any psychic assists."

Paige folded her arms, and glowered at her sister. "I hate it when you're right."

Cody sat on the couch, trying to wrap his head around this while absent-mindedly moving the various objects on the coffee-table with his power. He had been so caught up in his new identity, he had almost forgotten that the Tipton was being bought out. It had doubled in seriousness now that he realized the takeover was demonic.

"Alright, I'll call Phoebe." Paige complied. But then I'm getting started on a vanquishing potion."

"Too late." Piper stopped her. "Cody & I already made one."

"What?" Paige choked, dropping onto the couch next to Cody. "Wow, you're first vanquishing potion! How do you feel? Wait, did Piper warn you about the blast."

"Yeah." Cody grinned. "She told me about how your first one knocked you over." Both he and Piper giggled.

"It's not funny!" Paige whined. "That almost singed my eyebrows off."

"Not as funny as that time that potion backfired, and turned your hair red."

"What?!" Cody doubled over laughing.

"Alright, that's not fair." Paige frowned. "It turned out okay."

Cody fell off the couch from laughing so hard. It felt weird to be having such a normal moment, with everything that was going on. Weirder still was how comfortable he now felt with these women he had known all of two days. Maybe witches felt a kind of kinship for each other. Or maybe it was because of the shock that his mother had kept his identity a secret all these years that he was finding someone new to confide in. Dimly, he wondered how Zack was doing.

----------

Zack was actually faring quite well. Not only did he have more control over the fire, he was starting to keep up with Phoebe's moves, and incorporate his powers into it.

"Good, keep it up." Phoebe encouraged, continuing to send kicks and punches his way. She had been right about her prediction of Zack's fire not being able to keep up with her. But he wasn't missing by much. She was holding back of course, but she was still impressed at how quickly he was picking it up. Maybe your powers became easier to handle, the younger you were when you started using them. Her thoughts were interrupted when her cell phone rang. She answered it, while instantaneously dodging one of Zack's fiery punches. He fell over with a less-than-manly squeal, extinguishing the flames in his hands. "It's Paige, sweetie. I've got to take this. Try practicing your aim for a little bit."

Zack shot her a dirty look as he got back to his feet. Phoebe answered while Zack started throwing fireballs behind her.

"Hello." Phoebe answered. "Wait, what?"

"You heard me." Came Paige's voice from the other line. "Carlisle's entourage arrived, and two of them were darklighters. Piper wants you to come down and see if you can get a premonition or two."

"Alright, I'm on my way." She clapped her phone shut, and put a hand on Zack's shoulder to stop him. "Sorry kiddo, time to get back to the Suite."

"Ah man." Zack groaned. "I was this far from a bull's-eye." It wasn't until then that Phoebe noticed that he was glistening with sweat, and felt a little guilty about pushing him so hard.

"You've put in enough of a work-out for one day." She said, crouching down so he could climb onto her back. "Whew, Zack. You know, there's this new invention called deodorant."

"It's just a little man-funk." He sighed. Once he was riding piggy-back on Phoebe, as she made her way back the way they had come from the Tipton, he realized how tired he was. He just rested his head on her shoulder for awhile before he felt up to talking again. "Hey Phoebe?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, anything." She assured him.

Have you ever been in love?" He asked bluntly. He felt a jolt go down her back, and wondered if he'd poked a soft-spot.

Phoebe tried to keep her voice level as she spoke. "Once. Why do you ask?"

"Well, this witch stuff is great… but I've kind of been thinking. Doesn't it keep you away from stuff like that?"

She thought for a moment, trying to find the right way to word this. "Well, yeah. That's never going to change. But we find ways to work around it."

Zack took that in for a second. "You think I can do it?"

Phoebe laughed. "I don't think you'll have any problem finding a nice girl. You're sweet, you're funny, you're street-smart…"

"You forgot something."

"Like what?"

"How about rugged good looks." They both giggled at that. "So… what happened the first time?"

She hesitated again as a darkly handsome face with blue-grey eyes made its way uninvited into her head. "Let's just say I fell for the bad-boy; weakness of mine."

"What do you mean bad-boy?" He prodded. "You mean like a demon?"

"Well…" She hesitated.

"You're kidding!"

"Half-demon! _Half_-demon! And it's not what you think. Long story short, he became the Source of all evil, and we had to vanquish his sorry ass."

"Hey, minor here."

"Oh, right. Sorry. Anyway, after that, I haven't been able to hang onto a decent guy since. I'm thinking of just swearing off men altogether."

"No, don't do that!" Zack cried. "Mom says true love is hard to find, but when you do it's… it's like nothing else matters."

"That's a pretty romantic thing for a divorcee to say." Phoebe pointed out.

"Well… she also says that sometimes, it just slips. But you should never give up on it. And besides, you're hot."

"Excuse me?" Phoebe scolded.

"I mean… nice, and attractive." He corrected hastily.

"That's better." She stared up at the sky, taking note that it was mid-afternoon, and that the sun was turning a fiery orange. "I guess you're right though."

Zack's demeanor perked up. "So does this mean you'll try to get back out there?"

"Absolutely." She assured him.

"Then how 'bout you start with me, at the movies."

Phoebe laughed again. "Give it a rest."

"Ah, come on."

----------

"Whitelighter?" Carlisle repeated into the phone of his limbo's back seat. The Heir inside him trembled with fury.

"Rupert and I sensed it when we pulled up." Helen's voice quivered, her normal shrill arrogance clearly paled with her master's displeasure.

"Then they had to have sensed you as well." Carlisle growled. "And that means they know demons are behind the takeover. Did you at least locate the whitelighter?"

"Unfortunately, no. Something stopped us from tracking the orbs."

"All the worse then. That means there are witches there as well, masking their presence."

"Forgive us my lord." Helen pleaded.

"I don't want excuses. I want results." His voice was chillingly calm, making it more unsettling than if he had shouted. "Find the witches, and eliminate them."

"Yes my lord." Helen concluded, glad to finally hang up.

Carlisle's stretch limbo pulled up to the front of the Tipton, and his door was opened eagerly by a Latin bellhop with a thick accent. "Welcome to the Tipton, sir. Allow me to take your luggage?" Carlisle paid him no mind as he stepped out.

Meanwhile, across the street, Phoebe set Zack back on his feet, as they prepared for a jay-walking sprint to the hotel. Zack squinted to see who was getting out of the limbo, and a rage boiled in him when he caught sight of the tall slick-haired Dominic Carlisle. "That's him!" Zack growled. He raised his hand, and focused his power. A fireball appeared in his palm before Phoebe could stop him.

"No!" Phoebe grabbed his wrist. Zack's fireball vanished from his surprise.

"Why'd you stop me?"

"Because one; we're in public, and two; we don't have a plan."

"Sure we do. I barbecue him."

"No, you don't get it." Urgency was plain in her voice. "What if that's not enough? We still don't even know if he's a demon. He could just be _possessed _by a demon, and if you kill him, you'll have innocent blood on your hands. Our powers are only to be used on demons, and warlocks. Never on people."

Zack froze. He stared at his hands, coming to grips with how close he had come to doing something horrible. Phoebe released his wrist, and took a second glance at the man across the street. For a brief moment, her eyes met his. His eyes were beady, and black, but for a second she could've sworn they flashed grey.

Pure soulless evil, practically suffocating her, rolled off his gaze in waves. She gasped, and squinted her eyes shut as the familiar ringing in her ears pulled her into the premonition. She saw the Seer, robed in black. She was glowing with dark energy, and floating in the air. Phoebe just watched helplessly as The Seer gained her new power, while she and her sisters stood waiting in the cage. Everything went black as the premonition changed.

This next was of Carlisle, collapsing to the floor as something stepped out of him. A tall, pale, gaunt young man with intricate tribal markings on his face. He was dressed in a dark cloak, and a black tunic, with tears along the sleeves, revealing markings on his arms as well. His hair was long, and black, and pulled back into a braid that hung in the middle of his back. But worst of all were those piercing grey eyes that housed all the hatred in the world.

"Phoebe! PHOEBE!" She was back in the present, looking up at Zack. The force of her premonition had knocked her to the ground. That was unusual. "Are you alright?" Zack asked frantically.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She reassured him, getting back to her feet. "Let's just get back to the suite." When she looked back at the hotel, Carlisle was already gone.

----------

"The Seer, are you sure?" Piper asked. She and her sisters were gathered at the opposite end of the living room, speaking in hushed voices, while Zack & Cody set the table for dinner.

"Yeah, but it was in the past, at the coronation." Phoebe explained.

"Well what about the other one?" Paige asked.

"I think it was a glimpse of the demon that's possessing Carlisle. I don't know who he is, but he's powerful. Really powerful. And he had tribal markings, kind of like Belthazor."

Paige's lips curled into a look of disgust at the mention of Cole's demon half. "Looks like Nat was right. There is something big about to happen here."

Piper looked back towards the twins, who were sniping playfully at eachother while they worked.

"Nice ponytail, Cody." Zack jabbed.

"Back off. It looks hot." His brother butted back.

Piper sighed. "And they're right in the middle of it." She frowned. Her sisters recognized it as the same look she had whenever she was weighing in their options. "Well if it's so powerful, do you think we should tell Nat?"

"What? Are you kidding?" Paige's eyes conveyed the shock she felt at this rather desperate move. "I don't want that manic Mata-Hari anywhere near those two."

"Well, I don't either, but she's helped us before."

"She's also tried to kill us before." Paige pointed out. "And besides that, we promised Carey we'd keep her away from her sons."

"No, Piper's right." Phoebe mediated. "You didn't see what I saw. That demon is strong, and he's only going to keep getting stronger. We might need her."

"Hey, you guys coming or what?" Zack interrupted.

"We're coming." Piper smiled, doing her best to look casual before turning back to her sisters. "We'll discuss this later. Phoebe, there are a few vials of vanquishing potion in the cupboard. We should probably carry them with us from now on. When the boys are asleep, we'll do some digging in the Book of Shadows." The three sisters nodded to each other, before resuming their attempt to not let on to Zack & Cody that something was horribly wrong.

----------

Carlisle dropped to the floor unconscious, as The Heir stepped out of him. "So, The Charmed Ones are here, are they?"

"Forgive us my lord." Rupert stammered as he and his twin sister took a knee, not daring to look him in the eye. "Somehow, they got in undetected."

"You're forgiven." The Heir's lips curved into an unsavory smile as he turned to face them. A dark throne materialized behind him, and he spread his cloak to assume his seat. "In fact, this may work to my advantage. When I, at long last ascend to my throne, I want them to be the first to know of my rise to power. Better yet, they're guarding two young witches."

He flexed his long bony fingers, dark energy dancing between them. "It will be poetic justice when I sacrifice them both for my ritual." He laughed sadistically, joined by the two darklighters. "Rupert, have you located me a dark priest?"

"It's been difficult my lord. Most have been in hiding since the initial collapse of the underworld."

"Then I suggest you get moving."

Rupert nodded to his liege before he vacated the room in a trail of black orbs.

"Helen, what is your status with Tipton."

"Difficult." The darklighter admitted. She was a little bolder than her twin. Once he had left the room, she had gone so far as to take a seat at the desk on the opposite side of the room, and lean back with her legs crossed on the desk. The Heir had once told her how he admired her talents, enough to place her above her brother. She thought of herself as his trusted confidante. "But I'm close. There are days where I could push him over the edge if I wanted to. But the hope…" Helen's blood-red lips curved in disgust around the word. "The hope that his daughter gives him is an ever-present problem, even for a Spirit-Killer."

"I'll deal with her. She'll have to be out of the way before the ritual anyway. Just keep working on Tipton, and see to it that this deal ends with a suicide."

Helen spread her crimson smile from ear to ear before she too orbed out. After her last orb vanished, the brute demon entered.

"My liege." He bellowed, placed a fist over his chest, and kneeled. "The last innocent has been marked. Once I get the warlocks out of the way, the pentagram will be complete."

The Heir nodded approvingly, as if tossing a dog a liver-treat. "Good. Then you may place that project on hold for now. Tell me, have you ever gone fishing? It's easy when you have the right bait." The Brute demon looked confused as The Heir's Smile widened, shoeing all of his sharp, angular teeth.

----------

"Paige, pass the butter?" Zack asked zealously. He had already downed three portions of roast, two corn-cobs, and four helpings of ravioli.

"Easy Zack," Paige chided, as she passed the butter across the table. "You could feed a third-world country with how much you just ate."

"Sorry. This Witch stuff is hungry work."

"We can relate sweetie." Phoebe agreed, wiping her mouth, the very model of sophistication. "But that doesn't mean you can inhale your food.

Piper smiled, taking in the sight. Then she frowned when she saw that Cody's plate had hardly been touched, and instead of eating, he was staring longingly at the door. She put her hand over his.

"I'm sure she had a very good reason." She tried to comfort him.

"It's alright." He whispered, not wanting to give Zack another reason to tease him. "She kind of does this a lot. She gets pretty busy with stuff. We used to see her all the time, but lately she's been so mysterious, and her parents keep taking her out of town with them. I've never even gotten to meet them."

Piper brushed his bangs out of his face, and behind his ear. "Why don't you call her in the morning?"

"I guess." He sighed.

The evening continued that way until the end of dinner; with Zack overeating, and Cody hardly eating at all. After dinner, the five of them gathered around the TV. Phoebe had brought her copy of "Kill it Before it Dies".

"Hang on." Zack interrupted. I'll be right back. I've got some popcorn under my bed." The others gave him an odd look. "What? I have to hide it from Mom when she's dateless on Friday nights." They all just shook their heads as he opened the door to his & Cody's bedroom, just in time to catch the trail of white lights reform into Max right by his dresser. Both their jaws dropped.

"Uh-Oh."

"You're a whi-" Before he could breathe another word, Max orbed in front of him to clap his mouth shut with one hand, and yank him inside with the other. She closed the door gently before releasing him, taking a quick peek to see if the others had heard. They hadn't.

She turned to Zack and tried to keep him calm. "Zack, listen to me. I…"

"You're a whitelighter?!" He whispered urgently. "And you never told us?!"

"Believe me, I wanted to." The brown-eyed girl sighed. "But Natalia wouldn't let me.

"Natalia?!" Zack gasped.

Max winced at her second slip. "It's a long story."

"What are you doing with _her_"

"I can't tell you. I'm not even supposed to be here. Natalia's talking to the elders. I have to go before she realizes I'm gone."

"But why did you even come then?"

"To give you this." She pulled a note from her jean-coat pocket. "Listen, you have to promise not to tell anyone; especially Cody."

"But I…"

"Promise me!" She shook him, desperation clearly showing in her eyes.

"Zack, are you okay?" came Piper's voice from the other side of the door.

Zack looked into Max's deep brown eyes, which if they grew any wider, they might pop out of her head. "I'm fine." He called back. "Just stepped on a jack."

"Okay, well hurry up, or we'll start the movie without you."

"Alright." Zack whispered, giving in. "I won't tell anybody. But I…"

"Thanks Zack!" She threw her arms around his neck tightly, cutting him off. "You're the best." Those were her last words before she orbed out, leaving Zack hugging the empty air. He looked at the note she had gave him, hesitating before opening it.

_Dear Zack & Cody,_

_Things are about to get dangerous. _

_When they do, call for your whitelighter._

_ I'll orb right to you._

_--- A Friend_


	7. Chapter 6: Dance With Me?

A/N: I am sooo sorry for the wait. But y'all will be happy to know that I'm finished writing it, and now have nothing distracting me from typing it up. Here's the latest installment! I had a lot of fun writing this one For those of you who think I made Max a little too affectionate, keep in mind she's been living with Natalia… mean, crazy, secretive, slightly bipolar Natalia.

Chapter Six: Dance With Me?

"Natalia, we need to talk." The sorceress looked up from the tome she was studying to see Elder Sandra speaking to her, accompanied by Elders Odin, and Jonah. The Elders didn't trust her enough to seek audience with her alone. Only the Angels of Destiny were powerful enough for that.

"As you wish, but bear in mind that your presence here disrupts my operation."

"What operation?!" Elder Odin blustered in his nasally old voice. "Since you started in this area, you've put more effort into masking your activity from us than anything else!"

"Steady Elder." Jonah warned, placing a hand on Odin's shoulder.

"No! We have been far too lenient with her! If we don't start seeing some results soon, we'll have no choice but to pull your resources."

"_Don't_threaten me, Elder Odin." Natalia hissed. The three Elders froze. She had kept her voice low, but the room still seemed to shake with her anger. The whites of her eyes turned black as she rose from her seat to stare the three of them down. "Throughout the duration of these missions, I work _with _you, not _for _you. You provide me with the resources I require, on the one condition I've upheld; I don't harm any innocents. Interference on your part disrupts everything. Now will you kindly let me do my job? Unless of course you wish everything I've worked for in the last three hundred years since Melinda's death be for nothing."

"Natalia, we're not questioning you." Sandra assured her. She remained calm and serene even in the face of the frightening sorceress. "We're just concerned."

"We've felt a surge of demonic energy." Jonah explained. "We've never felt anything like it. Not since The Source."

"And," Sandra cut in, "We've lost contact with two of our agents in the West Andes."

The West Andes, Natalia thought to herself. "Were they guarding anything important by any chance?"

Despite the earlier warning, Odin flared up at her again. "That's no concern of yours! We're asking the question here, not-" he shrunk as the torchlight that hung about the room turned a shadowy purple, and roared in accordance to Natalia's mood. She merely chuckled darkly as he was silenced.

"You will do well to keep your temper in check, Odin. It's not a befitting quality for an Elder. But you're right; it is no concern of mine. I'm merely here to finish what Melinda and I started. Now, if you have anything else to report," she glanced back at Odin, "or any grievances you'd like to make known, do so now."

Sandra looked back to Jonah, who nodded. "We're concerned about Maxine. She hasn't reported to us since we assigned her to work with you."

"If I recall correctly, she hardly reported to you anyway, which is exactly why you gave her to me in the first place."

"Hah!" Odin huffed. "There's another one we've let slide."

"Odin." Jonah warned.

"Well it's true. Back in my day such disrespect got you the strap every time."

"Are you suggesting I beat your whitelighter?" Natalia drawled. The other two Elders looked at her in shock. Odin put his hand to his chin thoughtfully.

"Hmm, it's a thought."

"Odin!" Sandra cried.

Natalia resumed her seat. "If you must know, Max is on assignment right now, and has been doing excellent work since she got here. Her methods are… unconventional, but inventive. And she's still managed to make time for her charges who have just come into their powers. You'd be proud if you could see her."

Sandra nodded approvingly, tossing Odin and "I told you so" glance.

Jonah folded his arms. "Very well, I believe we're done here." He and Odin orbed out. Only Sandra remained.

"Natalia?" She asked.

"What is it?"

"It's just… I can't help but feel there's something you're not telling us."

The demoness just gave her a cold smile. "Of course. You've known me long enough by now."

Sandra simply nodded and orbed out.

Once Natalia was alone again, she looked up at the ceiling. "Max." She called.

Max orbed in immediately, and stood stoically awaiting instruction. That was uncharacteristic of her. Natalia eyed her suspiciously.

"Where have you been?"

"Nowhere important." Max had never been good at lying. Truth be told she'd never had to before she'd met Natalia.

"I take it you took advantage of my little distraction." Max was about to protest, but Natalia raised a hand, silencing her. "Never mind that, I'm not going to bother punishing you. The Heir is here, so I'm won't need you to do any infiltration for awhile."

"So what grunt work am I doing for you?" Max practically snarled. Natalia smiled, curious to see what her reaction would be to her answer.

"None."

Max didn't move, her face frozen as if someone had slapped her with a wet fish. "What?"

"You heard me. I'm giving you a day off tomorrow. In fact, I believe Mr. Moseby is having a little soiree for his overworked staff tomorrow. No doubt he wants to make up for not telling them straight out about the buy-out. Zack and Cody are invited. Perhaps they'll be a little more enthusiastic if you ask Cody to be your escort."

"What?" Max repeated.

"You heard me. You're going to a dance."

"But… but why?" Max stuttered "Why are you being so nice to me all of a sudden?"

"My dear Maxine," Natalia rose from her seat, and placed a cold hand on the young whitelighter's shoulder."Just because I am a demon, doesn't mean I am exempt from being nice once in awhile."

"But-"

"No buts." Natalia chided as she guided Max toward the bedroom door. "Here, you'll need this." She twirled her wrist, and in a violet flash, a lavender envelope appeared in her hand. "It's my invitation. Dear old Marion forgot that parties aren't exactly what I do."

Max took the envelope and stared at it, as if afraid it would disappear at any moment as part of some cruel joke. Natalia smiled at her dumbfounded expression as she opened the door to where Max slept; the only part of the suite that had remained unchanged, and quite possibly the only act of kindness she had shown towards Max.

"Let's just say I think I've been a little hard on you." She told her, as she pushed the young girl through the door, and Max found that Natalia had taken the liberty of conjuring a white nightgown onto her. "Now get some sleep. I believe you have a dress to pick out tomorrow." And with that, she closed the door, leaving a very confused Max in the room alone with the invitation still in her hand.

She continued to stare at it, before she grinned her wide pearly white grin, and flopped onto the bed, though she felt she could hardly sleep.

Cody continued to stir the potion under Piper's watchful eye. "Zack, could you bring me the rosemary?"

"Sure." Zack replied, picking the her up from the counter, and tossing it into the pot.

"No don't!" BLAST!! The potion erupted in Cody's face. When the smoke cleared, a soot-faced Cody was glaring venomously at his brother. "I didn't say add it! Geez Zack, do you ever think ahead?"

"Cody," Piper tried to scold, but couldn't repress her laughter. "Be easy on your brother. Working out with Phoebe is pretty exhausting. I'd know, I've tried to jog with her. I'm sure he's having a hard time concentrating. Right, Zack?"

"Yeah." Zack stammered keeping his eyes trained on the floor. Cody had noticed that his twin was acting strangely since last night, but he hadn't really pressed the issue. Piper lifted Cody's chin to survey the damage.

"Awe, sweetie let's get you cleaned up."

"Here." Zack pushed a washcloth into Piper's hand. He even remembered to put soap on it. Now he was really starting to worry Cody.

He took the cloth from Piper, and scrubbed the soot off vigorously, and re-tied his hair. He was about to ask Zack what was bothering him when the doorbell rang. He moved to answer it. They weren't quite as paranoid about answering the door as they had been the last few days. No sooner had he opened it then Max threw her arms around him.

"Cody, I'm so sorry I didn't make it to dinner last night. I'll make it up to you, I promise."

Cody pulled her off of him. "What are you talking about?"

Max just smiled. "Word on the street is, Moseby's throwing a staff party tonight, and you guys are invited. Well guess what," she pulled a lavender envelope from her jean coat. "I am too, and I was wondering if you wanted to go with me."

Cody clapped his hand to his forehead. "The party, that's right. I totally forgot."

"So can you go?" Max asked, using the familiar puppy-eyed stare that always seemed to get her way.

"I… I can't… we have stuff to do." He looked back at Piper, pleading her to talk him out of this. Instead, she did quite the opposite.

"Of course he can make it." She grinned, clapping a hand on his shoulder. "He'd love to go."

"But… what about the-"

Oh if we put our lives on hold every time something like that came up, we wouldn't go anywhere. "

"Okay, great!" Max butt in. "I'll see you tonight at six." She hugged him one more time." I've got to go pick out a dress!" And with that, she turned heel, and raced down the hall for the elevator. Cody turned to face Piper. Max could have slapped him for the look on his face.

"What just happened?"

Piper smiled. "I think you just got a date."

"Nah." Cody shook it off. Piper and Zack quirked an eyebrow at him. "Yeah?!"

"Yeah. If I were you, I'd pick out something to wear. Max in a dress is going to be tough to compete with. I say we get Phoebe and Paige back down here to pick out a few outfits ourselves."

As if to save their sister time, Paige and Phoebe orbed magically into the suite in a swirl of white lights. Phoebe dusted herself off. "That's the third warlock this week. They're either really desperate, or really stupid."

"Probably both." Paige agreed. "So, what's going on here?"

"Hey, when are you gonna take _me_ on a demon hunt?" Zack pleaded.

"When you can use your powers without setting your brother's hair on fire." Phoebe replied flatly.

"It was an accident." Zack winced.

"So Piper," Paige interrupted. "You called us back, what's the emergency?"

"No emergency." Piper grinned. "Cody has a date, and we're going to a dance."

"It's about time." Phoebe groaned. "I've been dying to get some actual _vacation_ out of this vacation." Zack looked hurt. "Not that I don't love spending time with you." She corrected quickly.

"I don't know." Paige hesitated. "Doesn't seem like now's such a good time."

"That's what I said." Cody grimaced.

"What do you mean?" Piper asked.

"Something's not right here. Those warlocks didn't look like they were with Carlisle. That means there are two factions warring over the same territory."

"Paige, could you please let your hair down for once?" Piper chided.

"That coming from you? Ouch."

"I'm a mom, what's your excuse?"

"Fine, point taken. You want me to loosen up? You want me to have fun? I'll show you, I am the _queen_ of fun. You two!" she pointed to the twins, who were instantly orbed to her side. "Come with me. We're going shopping. You are not going to dance dressed like that." Before Zack or Cody could argue, she had grabbed their wrists, and the three of them were orbed away.

Phoebe and Piper looked at each other, and laughed uncontrollably. "We should tell Paige to have fun more often. Maybe she'll take _us_ shopping."

The elevator doors opened, and Cody led Max into the lobby by the hand, with Zack and the sisters in tow. Zack had been unable to secure a date in time, and was insisting that he was with Phoebe.

"For the last time, just because we're going to the dance together, does not mean we are going _together."_

"Come on Phoebe, you don't have a date, I don't have a date, we're both witches, we're perfect for each other."

"Pretty valid point there." Paige teased in Phoebe's ear. Phoebe growled.

"Look,if I save you a dance, will you please stop telling everyone I'm 'your woman'?"

"Good enough for me, sweet thang."

Cody tugged nervously on the black flame-patterned shirt Paige had bought him. He prayed he wouldn't do something that made him look stupid in front of Max. Knowing his luck he'd probably get something stuck in his teeth, and be completely unaware of it the entire evening, or his new black jeans would fall around his ankles, or worse yet, he might forget everything Piper had taught him and still dance like a buffoon.

"You okay dude?" Max asked. She on the other hand was having the time of her life, and they hadn't even gotten to the dance hall yet. She looked like an enormous weight had been lifted off her shoulders. He didn't remember ever seeing her like this.

"I'm fine." He answered. His forehead was already forming beads of sweat. Why was he so nervous? He'd been on dates before. Even his first one hadn't made him feel anything close to what he was feeling now. "It's just… this outfit." He whispered so Paige wouldn't hear. "I feel a little weird."

"Relax, you look hot." Her breath caught in her throat, as she realized her slip. "I mean… it looks good on you. You should try that look a little more often."

"Thanks." He blushed.

"Awe." Piper squealed in Paige's ear. "They're so cute together."

"Okay, you're way too perky tonight. It's scaring me." Paige frowned.

Both Max and Cody heard their exchange, and blushed. They were glad when they finally reached the dance hall, and the wild colorful lights could mask it. As if to add to Cody's nerves though, the song playing was a slow one, by the Cheetah Girls (a secret favorite of his) and most of the people there were in very close contact to each other. Max had to practically drag him onto the dance floor, as the others split off to do their own thing.

"Ah Miss Matthews." Paige was caught off guard by Mr. Moseby's approach. "I'm glad I found you. Would you do me the honor of the first dance?" He asked in a show of chivalry.

Paige giggled a bit. "You may." She replied, before they began circling the floor.

"I never got the opportunity to thank you." He beamed at her.

"Well from what it sounds like, London's the one who's been doing the lifesaving."

"Yes she's been amazing. I've never seen her work so hard at something. I could barely wrench her away from her work to come here." He indicated London elsewhere on the dance floor, having more fun than she'd had in days with her date. "Maddie set her up with a friend of hers."

"She sounds like a good friend to London. "

"She is, and if it hadn't been for you, I probably would've given up on the both of them. And to top it all off, you've kept those two menaces out of my non-existent hair the entire week. I don't know what you did, but I haven't heard a peep out of them since."

Paige frowned. "Well they're going through a lot right now. They're good kids, really."

"Oh you don't have to tell me that." Moseby corrected. "In all honesty, it would be awfully quiet around here without them. It's just my job to keep them out of trouble, you know."

Paige couldn't disagree that the twins were definitely a handful. She decided to change the subject. "So, you seem a little more chipper than I remember. What happened?"

Moseby looked around to make sure no one was looking. "You may find this hard to believe, but I think London and Maddie might actually be able to make Mr. Carlisle listen to them. I only wish Mr. Tipton shared my optimism. He's been so down lately, like there's a cloud over him."

This caught Paige's attention. "You don't say." She tried to keep her tone casual. "Is that unusual for him?"

Meanwhile, Cody was finally getting comfortable on the dance floor, as Max was simply content to circle around for now (something she usually gave the begrudging nic-name 'the penguin walk').

"So…" Cody stammered, "are you sure your parents are okay with this?"

"Totally." She assured him. "They've been feeling kind of bad about not letting me out of the house more often. Besides, my mom said I looked too good in this dress to just stay home." Cody couldn't deny it. The blue party dress she had bought earlier this morning was gorgeous on her. Every movement she made caught him in a trance. "What is it?" she asked, chuckling at his expression.

He stuttered a bit before he found his voice again. "Y-you…you look like an angel tonight."

"Oh." She looked down at the floor. Interesting choice of words, she thought to herself.

Cody must have thought he'd said the wrong thing, because he quickly began correcting himself. "N-not that you don't look beautiful every night, it's just…"

"No, I know what you meant." She stopped his sputtering. "Lets just say… I don't really feel like one right now."

Cody frowned for a moment, before an idea struck him. What was it Piper had told him about dancing? Quit waving your arms around, you look like you're having a seizure? No, that wasn't it. If you really want to sweep a girl off her feet, you'll ask her to cha-cha. He swallowed before deciding to go through with it.

"Wait right here. I'll be right back." He left Max on the dance floor to talk to the DJ. "Arwin?"

"Oh, hey Cody. Check it out, looks like all that DJ junk I had in the basement came in handy. And to think Muriel laughed at me. Well who's laughing now!" He called to the portly red-headed maid who was in her usual routine (eating with her feet up).

"You tell her Arwin." Cody rolled his eyes. "Hey listen, could you do me a favor?"

"Sure, anything." The handyman replied. He bent so Cody could whisper in his ear. "Uh-huh…uh-huh… Oh yeah! I love it!" he cried, before slamming one of the switches on his sound-board.

Max heard the music change abruptly, and when she looked for Cody, she saw him beckoning to her, moving in time to the music. She mirrored his movements, instantly recognizing the rhythm, until they were close enough for him to hear her. "Cody, are you sure about this? The last time we danced in public you almost busted a rib."

"It's okay." He assured her, taking her by the waist. "I've been practicing." The music picked up, and she was shocked to find that Cody was actually leading her. He'd never been good enough to do even that before.

Cody looked around the dance floor (still not breaking rhythm) until he found Piper.

"Just Keep going." She mouthed. "You're doing fine." This should have helped, but the boy's brief look around the room alerted him that everyone's eyes were now on them. Max noticed his anxiety, and began leading again. He let her do so until he caught his breath. Happy place, he thought, find a happy place. Then he surprised her again by twirling her, and following up with a fairly advanced move. He was surprised to find that Max was actually laughing. Eventually he could even stop counting out the rhythm in his head, and just free up & go with it, as Piper had put it. He twirled her once more, and they finished with a dip. The entire room applauded their big finish.

Max got back up, and threw her arms around him. "Cody, that was amazing! Where did you learn that?" She pulled back enough so that their eyes could meet. Something happened when they did.

Cody could feel it. He couldn't stop it, or understand it. Was she doing it? Was he? He couldn't tell. All he knew was that their lips were getting dangerously close to each other.

"I, uh… I need a breather." He cut off the moment. "I'll be right back." He left her there on the dance floor to take a seat on one of the metal chairs that lined the room.

"May I cut in?" Max turned to find that it was Zack who had asked her.

"Sure." She answered so as not to look suspicious. It was a slow song, so they simply circled like before.

"So have you told him?" Zack whispered.

"No I haven't told him!"

"Well you better do it fast. I don't know how much more of this I can take."

"You'd better keep your mouth shut, or I'll-"

"Beat me like a piñata, I know."

"I told you, Natalia's not letting me. You think I _like _lying to him? I wanted to tell you guys as soon as you found out about your powers."

"Well how much longer are you stuck with her?"

"I don't know, until the Elders say different." She grunted.

"That sucks."

"Tell me about it." She agreed. "Listen, I'm really glad I can talk to someone about this. I've been really worried about you guys. How are you doing with your powers?"

"Great!" Zack beamed. "The sisters have been a big help. I can throw a fireball the size of a basketball, and Cody can move the entire couch!"

"Really?" Max looked back to where Cody was sitting, sounding thoroughly impressed.

"Yeah, but they haven't taken us on a demon hunt yet." Zack sighed.

"Well, when this is over, I promise I'll show you all the demon hot-spots in Boston. Then the three of us can vanquish to our hearts content."

"Promise?" Zack's eyes glistened.

"Promise."

Meanwhile, Cody couldn't help but feel a little jealous as his brother and his date continued slow dancing.

"Catching your breath?" A voice cut through his thoughts. He looked up to see a blond woman with green eyes, and mocha lipstick, dressed in a slimming dark violet gown. She was seated cross-legged beside him. Strange that he hadn't noticed her before.

"Yeah," He replied. "The cha-cha takes a lot of energy."

"You know," the woman's voice dropped lower, "She'll never really love you if she doesn't really know you."

Cody's eyes bulged. Obviously, he hadn't expected that. "What do you mean?"

The woman gave him a chilling smile. "I think you know what I mean." Cody's jaw dropped as he watched her green eyes darken to a shadowy amethyst, and the whites of her eyes turn black.

"Natalia." He breathed, trying to keep his voice level. "What are you doing here?"

"Just giving you a friendly reminder." She whispered, stroking his hair in an unsettling way. Her touch made Cody cringe. Even with her glamour, there was no hiding her nature. "I said I'd give you answers. All you'd have to do is ask."

"Our Mom's coming back soon. She said she'd tell us everything."

"Perhaps. Or perhaps she'll find a way to bind your powers again. Maybe even erase your memories."

"She wouldn't do that." Cody snarled.

"You sound so sure." She retained that bone-chilling grin as she spoke. "And yet, I can sense that you're not. You're keeping a treasure trove of emotions bottled up, among which are distrust, un-surety, insecurity, even resentment for your mother. Quite frankly, I'm surprised you haven't come to me sooner."

"Who says I'm going at all." He glowered.

"Oh you will. I can also sense that your yearning for the truth can't be denied any longer. This little appearance of mine was all you needed to push you over the edge. Pout at me all you want, you know I'm right."

Cody looked away from her, as if to shake her out of his head. But he couldn't shake off what she had said. He did want answers, and he was willing to do anything to get them. He had to know why his own mother had hidden his identity, his destiny from him and his brother. He wanted the truth, and he wanted it now.

"Alright." He gave in. "But how am I going to get past the sisters?"

"Like this." The glamoured Natalia said darkly, pulling a sinister vile from the hem of her skirt. "Drink it, and tell Piper you aren't feeling well, and that you're going back to the suite."

He took the vile, and turned it over in his hand. "Where can I find you?"

"In suite 666." She practically cackled. "Don't you just _love_ clichés?"

"Whatever, I'll meet you there." He snapped, popping the cork of the vile.

"Don't be late." She chided before taking the form of a shadow as he had seen her do before. It slid along the dance floor and up the walls into the ceiling, completely unnoticed.

Cody stared at the strange potion before downing it without so much as a breath. It's effects were immediate. He felt dizzy, and flushed, empty of all thought besides making it to where his answers awaited. He stumbled across the floor to find Piper.

"Are you okay sweetie? You look awfully pale." Piper felt his forehead.

"I'm just a little hiccup winded. I'm going back to the suite."

"Alright, do you want me to go with you?"

"No that's okay. Tell Max I'm sorry." He said regretfully.

"Alright, if you're sure you'll be okay." She said, sounding as maternal as ever.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." He assured her before turning to make his way back to the lobby before the potion's effects wore off.

"Feel better!" Piper called as the elevator doors closed behind him.


	8. Chapter 7: The Demon's Pact

A/N: Okay, this is more of a Natalia chapter. I know she's not the most popular character, but I have a lot of fun writing about her. Enjoy the chapter anyway.

Chapter Seven: The Demon's Pact

Suite 666. For awhile Cody just stared at the door, still not sure if this was the best idea. After debilitating it a moment longer, he reached for the knob. He recoiled his hand back almost instantly, because the knob turned on its own, opening the door a crack. He could see nothing through the narrow except darkness, but it was now or never. He took a deep breath, and shoved the door open, plunging himself into whatever lie in wait.

When he opened his eyes, his heart skipped a few beats. He had been expecting something a little different, but nothing close to this. It was like he had stepped through time into one of the castles he'd read about in one of his books about King Arthur. The walls were made of mortar brick, and the room was dimly lit by torches. In its center was a marble pentagonal table, emblazoned with a pentagram. It was obscured by the same symbol he had seen on Natalia's palm.

What surprised Cody most about the room was the bookshelves that lined the walls, full almost to bursting. He couldn't resist a quick peek, and began perusing through them when a smooth voice, like stone wrapped in velvet, sounded behind him.

"You wished to see me Cody?"

The young witch jumped, and whirled around to see Natalia sitting at the table in a high-backed chair that had not been there before. It seemed she had abandoned her usual black attire for a long elegant violet dress with a low neckline that, Cody was a little embarrassed to note, plunged all the way down to her waist. The opening was held together by drawstrings. With her long dark hair, and mocha skin, she vaguely resembled an Egyptian princess. Her violet eyes watched Cody with a mix of waiting, and amusement.

"So," he stammered, "You read a lot? Are they all spell books?"

"Some of them," She replied. "Others are strictly history. You can find any topic from Heroes to Villains, quests, tragedies, love, hatred, and I think I have a little Shakespeare somewhere."

"You read Shakespeare?"

"I knew Shakespeare, although back then we called him William. You might say he took some inspiration from me. You may be acquainted with Mercutio's rant about Queen Mab? In any case, I keep them with me. You see humans tend to forget the importance of stories and history. Those who don't study history are doomed to repeat it."

"Santa Ana said that." Cody said in awe.

"He heard it from me."

"You knew Santa Ana too?!"

"How do you think he stayed in power for so long? Anyway, we're not here to talk about me. I actually find myself to be quite loathsome. I believe we're here because you have questions."

Cody swallowed. In the midst of all the talk, he'd nearly forgotten why he was here in the first place. Up until now, he hadn't really though of Natalia as a person. She had been more like a sinister entity out of a storybook, lurking in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to spring and eat him. Now that he was here, the thought of the beautiful slender woman actually eating children seemed absurd.

Something else caught his attention about her, and he couldn't help but ask. "Um… sorry, it's just… your ears."

She smiled darkly, and pulled her long raven hair back over her ears which, as Cody could now see clearly, were pointed and elf-like. "Very observant." She told him. "This is my true form. I had to keep them glamoured to look human to avoid exposure."

"Because protecting magic from exposure was the one thing both sides agreed on."

"You're a smart boy. I can tell you've been reading from the Book of Shadows."

In spite of himself, Cody blushed. It felt odd accepting a compliment from someone he was still terrified of.

"Have a seat Cody." She made a beckoning motion with her hand, and Cody felt his legs pushed out from under him. A chair had appeared behind him out of nowhere, and pushed itself until he was seated at the table. The sorceress nodded. "Now remember, I can only provide you with answers to questions you ask. SO choose them carefully."

Cody took that in for a moment. So she was going to be cryptic was she? Fine, he'd take it. "Alright, to start; how do you know my mom, and why did she bind our powers?"

The demoness nodded apathetically, and tapped her finger to the table's smooth marble surface. Cody watched, transfixed as gray mist distorted it, like smoke on a mirror. When it cleared Cody saw his mother… but it couldn't be her. She looked different somehow. She never wore her hair that long. And who was the little girl on her lap? Wait, he thought, it wasn't his mother. It was his grandmother. His mother was the little girl on her lap being read to. She couldn't be more than six or seven. Cody recognized the house they were in from an old family album.

It was a calming vision. So peaceful, Cody began to wonder why Natalia was showing it to him. Then a black-clad, masked demon burst through the door, and hurled a fireball. The woman in the vision grabbed the girl, and dove out of its path just in time. It exploded against the wall. The demon through another one, but with a wave of her hand, Cody's grandmother sent it flying back into its owner, killing him instantly.

Smoke misted the table's surface again, and the scene changed. His grandmother was arguing with a man that Cody recognized as his grandfather. The vein in his forehead was throbbing with his anger. "I told you, I didn't want anymore of this witch stuff near this family again!"

"Dan, that 'witch stuff' is who I am! You want me to just turn my back on that?! I can't do that! Its my heritage, its my destiny!"

"What is, To have demon after demon burst through that door or blast through our walls until one of them finally gets us?!" In the far corner of the vision, Cody could see his mother watching the scene from the staircase, a tear running down her cheek. The gray mist returned, and clouded the table once more.

"Your grandparents had many arguments of that nature." Natalia explained. "It tore her apart to see her mother and father that way. To make matters worse, the witch-gene skipped her generation. She grew up without powers. Oh, she could mix a potion or two, but that was about it." She waved her hand over the clouded face of the table. "And then you two were born."

The mist cleared and Cody saw his mother, now a grown woman with a baby Zack, and baby Cody seated on her lap. The two toddlers remained completely unaware of the effects the conversation taking place would have on them.

"I don't see why you think I would help you. If witchcraft is to be their destiny, who are we to interfere with the way they were born." Cody jumped when it became clear that Natalia was the one speaking in the vision. She looked no different than the woman he was talking to now. She was clad in her usual black outfit, with her legs crossed casually, completely emotionless in regards to the pleas of the other woman.

"Please." Carey pleaded again. "I can't watch my boys go through the same thing my mother did."

Natalia interrupted her, clearly not caring about Carey's reasons. "One thing that confuses me; why did you come to me? Why not the Elders?"

"I've already tried that. They won't do it. They keep feeding me that garbage about the grand design."

"So you turned to demonic help?"

"Well… that's not the only reason I came to you. My mother once told me a story about how you helped my ancestor Eva Proctor, and her friend Melinda Warren."

Cody couldn't read the past Natalia's expression, but there was definitely a reaction. The sorceress in the vision looked at the baby twins, as if analyzing a dinner menu. "Have they come into their powers yet?"

"I'm not sure." Carey admitted. "I think Cody might have moved a blanket to him without touching it, and this morning I could swear I saw Zack's hands glowing."

The demon woman stretched her arm towards the twins, and made a smooth gesture with her hand, twirling her wrist and closing it into a fist. "There. I've bound their powers."

Carey breathed a sigh of relief.

"But I have one condition." Carey looked back up to see the sorceress had risen from her seat to tower over her. "I will return one day, when your sons are older. When I do, I will offer them the choice to keep or relinquish their powers. Agreed?" Natalia removed her black glove, and extended her hand. A strange birthmark was plainly visible on it; a fire-colored eye with bat-like wings on either side.

Carey hesitated, but took the other woman's hand. "Agreed."

The gray mist returned one final time to distort the vision as Carey and Natalia shook hands. When it cleared Cody was met with the same flame-colored eye, with black wings protruding from its sides. The eye on the table seemed to be staring at him malevolently, as if waiting for his reaction.

"Satisfied?" Natalia's voice pulled him back to the present. He looked up at her through narrowed eyes.

"So she just assumed we'd end up like Grandma? She didn't even give us a chance? Why?"

"Who knows?" Natalia shrugged. "Perhaps she just thought you were too weak to handle it. It often puzzles me that she still refers to you as 'her baby'."

That made sense. It seemed their mother had always coddled them. But he never thought she thought of them as weak.

"Very well then, I suppose we're done here."

"Wait." Cody stopped her. Something about the conversation he had just seen bothered him. He had one more question. "Who's Melinda Warren?"

"It's late." She hissed. "And little boys like you should be in bed by now." One look into her shadowy purple eyes told Cody he had struck a nerve. She tried to lighten her mood again. "You've learned much tonight." She said, not looking at him. "I trust you need some time to take it all in."

"Yeah, I guess." He agreed. He rose from his seat and made for the door. "Thank you." He turned back to her once more. She was gone, and her chair was empty. He just shook his head and left the strange room, re-entering the Tipton hallway. He wasn't sure what to make of her anymore, but one thing he was sure of now. His mother had lied to him, and tried to keep his destiny from him without even giving him the chance to choose. The resentment he felt was stronger than ever.

"Well I had a great time." Zack yawned as he and the sisters filed into the suite.

"Yeah, shame Cody had to leave though. You think he's okay?"

"Ah he'll sleep it off." He answered.

Piper fumbled around until she found the light-switch. When she flipped it on they were all met with something quite unexpected. Carey was seated on the couch with a broad smile on her face.

"Mom!" Zack cried, and ran to hug her.

"How are my boys? Where's Cody?"

"He's probably asleep. I'll go get him." Zack sped for the bedroom.

"You're back early." Paige inquired. "We weren't expecting you back till tomorrow."

"I took an earlier flight. I wanted to surprise the twins. Lucky me, I found one that let me fly out this morning." Carey smiled.

"So how did the record deal go?" Piper asked, but was interrupted by the phone ringing.

"Oh, I'll get it." Paige reached for the phone and placed it to her ear. "Martin residence, Paige speaking."

"Hi Paige, that's right, the cousin." Came a man's voice on the other side. "Hi it's Kurt."

"Who?" Paige blurted.

"The boys' dad."

"Oh right, sorry."

"Hey no problem. Listen did Carey call you? She was supposed to meet me back at the restraunt."

"Oh she's here. She took an earlier flight this morning to surprise the twins. Didn't she tell you?"

"What?" Kurt asked surprised. "That's impossible. I just saw her an hour ago."

"What?!" Paige exclaimed. She had been so caught off-guard, she hadn't noticed the darklighter crossbow as Carey pointed it at her.

Cody dragged his feet down the hallway, dreading returning to the suite. Zack and the sisters had to be back by now, and he didn't have an excuse. It was usually Zack who came up with the cover-ups. When he reached the door, he turned the knob and opened it a crack. He peeked inside. It was dark. Maybe they weren't back yet. He opened the door all the way and flipped the lights on.

The second he was inside, he was grabbed from behind, and his arms were held firmly at his side. Rupert Stryker kicked the back of his knees, forcing him down. Helen' Stryker's shrill laughter sounded from the bedroom as she dragged a struggling Zack into view. His hands were tightly bound to prevent the use of his powers.

"Cody, no!" he cried.

Cody cast his eyes about the room in disbelief. Paige lay on the floor groaning with an arrow sticking out of her. Piper and Phoebe lay next to her, unconscious, with cuts and bruises on their faces. Demons clad in black lined the walls, standing at attention. In the middle of it all stood Carlisle with the Brute Demon at his side.

Before the young witch's eyes Carlisle fell to the floor as comatose as the sisters. In his place, The Heir was piercing him with those grey hate-filled eyes. They made the poor boy want to crawl into a corner as they raked him over with wave upon wave of evil.

"Cody," he smiled showing a row of sharp angular teeth, "we've been expecting you."


	9. Chapter 8: Clash of the Demons

Chapter Eight: Clash of the Demons

"What did you do to them?!" Cody cried as he gazed at the fallen forms of the sisters.

"Don't worry." The Heir sneered. "They're still alive --- barely." He grinned his unnatural angular smile as he pressed a heavy booted foot on Phoebe's chest, causing her to cough.

"Get away from her!" Zack threatened, struggling against Helen's grip. The demons laughed at his futile efforts as Helen pulled his head back, gripping his straw-colored hair. Cody's anger surged as she ran her scarlet nails precariously along his brother's throat. He narrowed his eyes at her, and before anyone knew what was happening, Helen was thrown off of Zack against the wall.

Zack retaliated quickly, sending two fireballs at Rupert with deadly accuracy into his shoulders. With both twins free, the suite was soon aglow with a flurry of fireballs and flying demons. Unfortunately, Zack and Cody failed to realize that these were swarm demons, and that every time they destroyed one, two more appeared in their place. But they were too caught up in the throng of battle to notice. Their blood was pumping and their anger was fierce as they moved to the center to protect their fallen allies. In fact they were so caught up, they didn't notice the brute demon grab shimmer behind them and grab them both by the collar.

"One false move," he said in his low grating voice, "And you'll both fly out that window." Suddenly their fury was replaced by terror at the sound of clapping. The Heir was applauding them from the corner of the room where he had stayed clear of the conflict.

"Bravo, bravo. Such power for two so young." He stepped toward them with theatrical grace. "But did you really think that would save you? You obviously don't know who I am." All at once, his demeanor darkened as he lashed out his arm. A dark beam shot from his hand and into the chest of one of his cohorts, vanquishing him instantly. No others appeared to take his place. All that remained was a pile of ash.

"Rotten little brats!" Rupert snarled as he stood up and brushed himself off. "I'll rip their jaws out!"

"Now, now brother, they're only babies." Helen jeered as she too gathered herself up and strode to the now helpless boys. She ran her blood red fingernail across Zack's cheek, and he gasped as she drew blood.

The twins closed their eyes trying to figure a way out of their predicament. Through his fear, and the pain of Helen's scratching Zack remembered something. The words from the note Max had given him flashed into his mind.

"Max." he whispered so no one else could here. There was a sudden _BANG_against the door of their suite.

"I thought you shielded the door." The Heir rounded on Helen.

"We did!" Helen's eyes darted back and forth from her furious master to the door which sounded again with a resounding _BANG_! This time a shaft of purple lightning streaked under the door as another _BANG_sounded.

With the demons distracted, Zack was able to take a closer look at their captor. Along the arm of the brute demon that held him, there were scorch marks. Fairly recent, and appeared tender. As another crash sounded outside the door, Zack grasped the brute's arm, letting his hands grow to their most dangerous heat. The giant demon roared in agony and clutched his wound. He dropped the twins just in time as another crash sounded outside the door, this time blowing it off its hinges.

The door flew directly into the brute, snapping cleanly in half, and sending him to collide into the wall with The Heir. Zack and Cody risked a peek at the newcomer. Natalia, clad once again in her black trench-coat and boots was standing in the doorway. She looked angrier than either twin had ever seen her with wind swirling around her long raven hair and violet lightning writhing in her hands. While her appearance was frightening, that wasn't the reason that Cody's jaw was hanging open. Moving in front of the sorceress was a chocolate-eyed girl with twin braids, an athame in her hand.

"Max?!"

The young whitelighter's focus snapped when Cody called her name. One of the swarm demons took advantage of her distraction and lunged. Max soon found herself shoved to the side as Natalia grabbed the attacker's wrist, twisting it until it snapped. The demon recoiled only to be struck in the chest by the angry sorceress' lightning. He crumbled to dust without a sound. Much like The Heir's attack, this one didn't multiply. Four others lunged and found themselves out-maneuvered just as easily and vanquished with little difficulty.

On the opposite side of the room, The Heir shoved the brute demon off of his slender form with force that was surprising from his gaunt frame. "Get off me you _OAF!_" Back on his feet he met the newcomers with a venomous stare. "Natalia, I should've known. These boys aren't clever enough to mask their presence, and the Charmed Ones are far too vain. I take it that you're the one who mobilized the warlocks as well were you?"

The sorceress' voice remained level, but there was enough poison in her words to bring a bull elephant to its knees. "You didn't really think I wasn't going to stand idly by while you tried to take power again did you?" Without warning enormous charges of purple lightning shot from both of Natalia's outstretched hands, snaking their way along the ranks of swarm demons that lined the walls. In moments they were gone. She looked to the remaining enemies as if daring them to attack.

The Heir looked first to the Stryker twins, then to the brute before nodding curtly. Helen and Rupert both orbed out, followed by the brute demon's shimmering. He looked back at Natalia and pulled his dark bangs behind his ears to hang with his long braid. His grey eyes were made even more startling sitting in the middle of the intricate markings on his face. He tossed his cloak over his shoulders, exposing an elegant black silk tunic with form-fitting leggings and steel-toed boots that looked more like they belonged on a teenager than a demon.

Natalia whispered to Max, never taking her eyes off her opponent. "Get to the others, and get them out of here. Don't forget the book." She took carefully planted steps further into the suite as she and The Heir began to circle each other.

The Heir smiled at her through narrow eyes, grey staring into violet. "Shall we dance?"

"Careful." Natalia warned. "The last time we clashed, I took half your face."

In moments the suite once again reeled with the roar of battle. The twins were barely able to get to the edge of the room, dragging Phoebe with them before the two demons closed the distance between them and went claw-to-claw. The Heir and the sorceress were matching each other blow for blow. Wild punches and powerful kicks were whirling between them. Violet lightning and dark energy were being thrown at random, shattering windows and ripping through furniture. Both boys clapped their hands to their ears and buried their faces as the suite began to take on the weight of the struggle.

For a moment, Natalia gained the upper hand and plunged a lightning-charged fist into The Heir's stomach. He was knocked off his feet, and landed hard on the coffee-table, splintering it into two. In seconds he was back on his feet. Natalia was in a fighting stance ready to go again. But instead of going hand-to-hand again, The Heir shot a beam of dark energy from his hand. With incredible reflexes, Natalia met it head-on with one of her lightning blasts. The whites of her eyes turned back as she focused her assault. The two magical attacks collided in the air, breaking off at them middle in all directions. Debris began to fall from the ceiling, and the walls started to crumble.

Cody clung tightly to his brother, both their eyes still screwed shut. Just when it seemed the world itself would implode, the boys felt themselves engulfed in a white glow. When they dared to open their eyes again, Natalia and The Heir were nowhere to be seen, and they found themselves in a spacious living room. It wasn't very decadent, but it wasn't very simple either. In any case it wasn't the suite.

"Piper!" The twins jumped when they heard Leo rushing down the stairs with a blond toddler on his hip that could only be Wyatt. "What happened?!"

"They'll be fine." Came Max's voice as Cody realized that she was hanging onto his shoulder. "Help Paige first. She got hit by a darklighter." The boys got to their feet to help Leo move Paige onto the couch. Max hefted the Book of Shadows onto the coffee table. Thankfully she had managed to grab it in all the confusion.

Leo began coaching the boys. "Guys, I need one of you to pull the arrow out of her."

"What?!" They exclaimed in unison.

"Me & Max can't touch it. Its poison is designed to kill whitelighters, but you guys are safe. Relax, Piper's done this with me tons of times."

"So you're a whitelighter." Cody glowered at Max.

With his brother indisposed, Zack carefully took hold of the arrow. He had tried to be gentle, but Paige groaned in pain anyway. Leo took hold of her hand and she squeezed tightly.

"Okay Zack, be careful." He warned. "Pull it out fast, but as straight as you can. You don't want a piece of it to break off."

Zack nodded and swallowed hard. He looked at Paige whose eyes were now open. Her face was glistening with sweat like a fever victim. She nodded. "Do it." She moaned in a hoarse whisper. Zack closed his eyes tightly, and grasped the arrow both hands before yanking it out.

"AAAAHHH!!!"

"It's okay Paige." Leo consoled her. "It's out. Max, help me with this."

Cody got on his knees by Phoebe and Piper, and watched transfixed as Leo and Max placed their hands over Paige's wound. Their hands began to glow with a soft golden light, and Paige's wound closed completely, leaving only a tear in her blouse.

"Ugh," Phoebe groaned, rising to a sitting position. "What happened?"

Piper was stirring as well. "We're back in the manor? How did that happen?"

Cody helped her up. "Nat saved us, and my _whitelighter_ orbed us here." He shot Max an accusing glare --- yet another betrayal of trust. She just stared at the floor, unable to meet his gaze.

"Well where's Nat now?" Phoebe asked, getting to her feet.

Before anyone could say anything there was a flash of violet lightning, and Natalia crash-landed into the opposite wall as if thrown backwards. She landed in a heap, smoking out of her nose and mouth and charges of purple electricity sparking from her slender form. She coughed, and spoke in anguish. "A little help please?"


	10. Chapter 9: Enemy Revealed

A/N: This chapter was written after about an hour and a half of pain-staking research. I had to get the flashbacks right in honor of all those mega Charmed fans. This one's for them. Once again, I don't own anything. Enjoy!

Chapter Nine: Enemy Revealed

"How could you not tell us?!" Cody shouted.

"Cody, can we not do this now?" Max argued back, albeit more meekly. She was usually more defiant, but something about the way Cody was looking at her made her feel very low.

"Max is right." Leo put a hand on his shoulder. "Right now we need to figure out what happened.

"That's easy." Piper fumed, getting to her feet. "The demon that's possessing Carlisle figured out we were on to him and came to kill us, and he brought friends."

"He seemed to know a lot about us." Phoebe sighed. "I mean, most of the Underworld does, but he seemed to have intimate knowledge. He knew Paige was a whitelighter, and had that darklighter bring her down first."

"And with me down for the count, the power of three was weakened. And yet, we've never even heard of this demon before." Paige sat back down and folded her arms.

"They call him The Heir." Natalia answered, faltering to her feet. "He's a very powerful upper-level demon."

"Oh, so you knew about this." Piper retorted.

"Of course." Natalia replied, ignoring the jibe. "Max has been working undercover with me for some time. We've been trying to stop the buy-out."

"You've been working with _her?!" _Cody lashed at Max again.

"Cody, please!" The girl cried.

"Cody, she really wanted to tell you. She just"-- Zack began.

"YOU knew about this?!"

"By accident!" Zack cried defensively. "She made me promise not to tell!"

"SHUT UP!!" Cody lashed his arm out at Zack who was thrown suddenly against the wall with unseen force. He landed on the floor with a thud. He recovered quickly, jumping back to his feet, glaring menacingly at his twin. He raised his hand out, and threw a fireball. Cody was about to retaliate with his power before Piper intervened.

"Whoa!" She grabbed Cody's wrist with one hand, and froze Zack's fireball with the other. "Cool it." She warned, trying to calm the situation. "The last time my sisters and I used our powers on each other, we lost them. Zack, please." She indicated the fireball.

Zack snorted resentfully before he clapped his hands together, extinguishing it, then stormed out of the room. Cody shrugged Piper off of him and followed suit, stomping up the stairs.

"Cody." Max pleaded. She tried to follow, but found herself restrained by Piper.

"Let them go. They need some time." She let Max go and rounded on Natalia, finding some comfort in redirecting her frustration. "Alright Nat, this is your mess. You want our help then start talking."

"Excuse me," Natalia huffed, but remained eerily serene, "but I believe I just saved your life. You are in no position to be upset with me."

"Upset? No, I've moved past upset and right to _pissed off!" _

"Point taken." The sorceress narrowed her eyes at the eldest Charmed One. "But I think we need to first make a battle plan. Leo, you need to report to the Elders. They told me The Heir had something stolen from the West Andes, but they didn't tell me what. If I'm right, then we are all in serious danger."

Leo looked to Piper who nodded. "I'll watch Wyatt. We have to work with her if we want to end this." She hated admitting that. She had never liked Natalia, even when they were allied. If there was one thing she hated more than demons, it was cryptic demons.

Leo nodded back and handed baby Wyatt to his mother. "You be good for mommy, okay buddy?"

"Max, you go with him." Natalia instructed. The young whitelighter nodded and complied without defiance for once.

She was glad to throw herself into her work to get her mind off her guilt. Both she and Leo orbed out.

"Alright then," the sorceress addressed the sisters, "I think it would be best if you stayed here with the twins for now."

"Well where are you going?" Phoebe asked.

"Back to Boston. The Heir is staking out a pentagram territory, and the warlocks I enlisted are having trouble holding his forces back. I'm going to stop him before he claims the Tipton."

"Not by yourself you're not." Piper laughed. "You're taking one of us."

"You think it wise to sever the Power of Three?" Natalia jabbed.

"No, but I'm not leaving a hotel of innocents in _your_hands, that's for damn sure."

"Good idea. I'll go." Paige offered.

"But Piper has more firepower than you." Phoebe interjected.

"Yeah, but I can orb. I feel like we've had this conversation before."

"Fine, I don't care." Natalia sighed. "Paige and I will go back, and you two will remain here with the boys."

Piper nodded firmly.

"Good luck." Paige waved before orbing out, followed by Natalia's shadow. Once they were alone Piper turned to her sister.

"Alright, you need to check the Book of Shadows and see if there's anything on The Heir that can help us vanquish him."

"Okay, what'll you be doing?"

"I'll be upstairs scrying for Carey."

"Carey, why?" Phoebe tilted her head.

"Kurt said she didn't show up, and we need to assume she's being targeted." Piper explained. She was getting to be quite a pessimist lately.

Phoebe looked back at the spot where her baby sister had just been standing. "Do you think she'll be okay?"

"Well, I don't trust Nat, but if she wanted us dead I don't think she would've fought The Heir to save us."

Phoebe furrowed her brows. "Yeah, why did she do that?"

Piper shook her head. "I don't know. But I know she knows a lot more than she's letting on." She sighed and placed Wyatt on her hip to take him upstairs for bed before starting her tedious task of scrying for the boys' mother.

A few hours later Phoebe had given up. Not only was their _nothing _on The Heir in the Book of Shadows, for some odd reason it kept flipping open to the entry on The Source. She had a feeling Grams was overreacting. The Heir was powerful, but he wasn't that powerful.

She decided to sleep on it. She crawled into her bed, careful not to step on Zack who was curled up in a sleeping bag at the floor, pulled the pink coverlet over herself and closed her eyes.

"Seems almost anticlimactic after all this time doesn't it?" The Source sneered in his grating tone before grabbing Paige by the face and throwing her across the attic. Then he turned to face Phoebe who was kneeling by a badly beaten Piper. "Say hello to Prue for me."

Phoebe felt her rage boil over when he uttered her fallen sister's name. Just as he summoned a fireball, she dashed across the hardwood floor and leapt toward him, delivering a whirling kick into his chest.

"Phoebe!" Paige cried. Her sister tossed her the crystals seconds before The Source rose back to his feet leering down at her with his abyssal black eyes.

"You power was always the weakest, hardly worth taking. Your life, however is."

"Paige, now!" At her sister's urging, Paige planted the last crystal in the array, conjuring the cage around The Source.

He merely grinned with his jagged teeth, his features strained across his horribly scarred face. "Crystal." One of the crystal in the array orbed into his waiting hand thanks to Paige's stolen power. "Now for the moment we've all been waiting for." He smiled again, conjuring another fireball.

At the last minute Cole shimmered into the room, diving in front of Phoebe and absorbing the fireball.

"Belthazor?!" The Source roared.

"No." Phoebe replied. "The Hollow."

Cole whirled around and blasted The Source with one of his own fireballs, forcing him to stagger back. "Hurry, the spell!" He urged Phoebe, sending another fireball into their enemy.

Phoebe crouched by her sisters, and together they recited the spell;

_**"Prudence, Patricia, Penelope, Melinda,**_

_**Astrid, Helen, Laura and Grace,**_

_**Halliwell witches stand strong beside us,**_

_**Vanquish this evil from time and space!"**_

The Source cried out in agony, flailing his clawed fingers about wildly as fire stilled his breath once and for all… or so they thought.

There was a blast outside the door of the bathroom where Phoebe was hiding. It could only be Piper using her power on Cole. "Phoebe, get out here and help us dammit!"

How had it come to this? After taking The Source's power into himself to save her, Cole had become the new Source of all Evil. And now she had to choose between her husband and her sisters.

"Paige." Piper warned as Cole reconstituted his body. Phoebe heard a crash as her baby sister was thrown into the wall.

"Don't make me kill you." Cole threatened, followed by another of Piper's blasts.

"Phoebe, you heard what he said, he's gonna kill us, help us!"

"Forgive me." Phoebe whispered with tears streaming down her face. She opened the bathroom door and re-entered the living room of the penthouse as Cole reconstituted again.

He took aim with his fireball and looked at his wife apologetically. "I'm sorry. It's… It's for the best."

"I know it is." She replied before crossing the room to kiss him passionately.

"Phoebe?" Piper pleaded, unable to believe what she was seeing.

Phoebe pulled away from her husband. "I'm sorry too." She told him before placing the scattered crystal in the array, completing the cage.

"Phoebe, no." Cole whimpered. "NO!"

"I'm sorry baby, I'm so sorry."

_**"Prudence, Patricia, Penelope, Melinda," **_Piper began the spell.

Phoebe's tears began spilling down as she joined in, nearly choking on her words. _**"Astrid, Helen, Laura, and Grace."**_

"I'll always love you." Cole uttered his final words to her.

Paige continued with the next verse, _**"Halliwell witches stand strong beside us," **_before all three joined in to recite the final sentence.

_**"Vanquish this evil from time and space!"**_

Phoebe looked away, unable to watch Cole's fiery demise. After the explosion which rent the penthouse to bits, she stood by the pile of ashes that had once been her husband, and felt she'd never stop crying.

"To Be your Source," The Seer proclaimed in her soothing tone, "to start a new evil order, to kill the Charmed Ones, this was my vision from the beginning. Every council member here will reap the rewards wi—UGH!" She cut off abrubtly as the demon offspring she had taken from Phoebe began to fight within her.

"Looks like she's not having anymore luck with that thing inside her than you were." Paige observed. "Oh… sorry, that was insensitive."

"That's okay." Phoebe assured her. "The baby was never mine. From the moment it took over it just felt like this black hole of evil, totally soulless."

"Seer." The head of the council bellowed. "Are you prepared to accept the power and position of The Source before all these leaders of the Underworld?"

"I am."

The coronation continued as The Seer rose into the air, glowing with dark energy. She lashed out at the cage the three sisters were trapped in, sending a beam out of her palm just as they joined hands and began the Power of Three spell.

_**"The Power of Three will set us free, the Power of Three will set us free, **__**the**__** Power of Three will set us free…"**_

The head of council leaned in towards The Seer. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong!" She shouted, sending a second beam from her other hand.

_**"The Power of Three will set us free, the power of **__**Three**__** will set us free, the Power of Three will set us free!"**_

In a flash of blinding light, The Seer's beam was deflected back at her, then shot out from her body in all directions, taking out every council leader one by one. Then The Seer herself was vanquished in a fiery blast, and with her The Source, for the third time.

The energy of soulless evil that had resided in The Seer's womb drifted through time and space for what seemed like an eternity. In that time, its hatred for The Charmed Ones, the witches who had thwarted him not once, but three times, multiplied in potency. But it wasn't beaten yet. It couldn't regain all its powers yet, but there was something it could do. Belthazor had done it; fed on power from other demons until he could return from the wasteland.

In time the demonic powers it fed on allowed it to constitute a new body, a younger and stronger one than any of its previous incarnations. It laughed insanely with its newfound mouth, the wind and rain tangling its long black hair, and whipping through its dark billowing cloak. Phoebe could see worst of all, those soulless grey eyes!

Phoebe gasped and lurched forward in her bed. She looked back and forth about her room frantically for the danger whose identity had just become clear. The room was empty, save for herself and Zack, who remained undisturbed in his place on the floor, snoring with gusto.

She held her hand to her chest trying to get her breathing under control. It wasn't him. It couldn't be him. But suddenly it all made sense, and she couldn't deny it. Everything from her premonition of The Seer two days ago, the Book of Shadows flipping to that particular entry, and the intimate knowledge he had about her and her sisters before they had even met.

The Source of all Evil had risen once more, and was aiming to get back what he had lost. Then their mortal enemy would be coming for them.


	11. Chapter 10: Demons In And Out

A/N: I loved, repeat loved writing this chapter! Even before she had children, Piper always had an amazing maternal capacity, and it's the most fascinating and fun part of her character to write about. Hope y'all enjoy!

Chapter Ten: Demons in and Out

Yet another demon screeched in agony as Natalia's violet lightning struck him in the chest. However, this distraction gave his partner (a thorn demon) an opening to the sorceress for her poisonous darts.

"Thorns!" Paige cried, orbing the projectiles in the opposite direction. They planted themselves directly into the thorn demon's throat, instantly vanquishing her with her own poison.

Natalia nodded, silently grateful for the save. "Seems almost bitter-sweet, killing The Heir's competition. It's almost like we're doing his work for him."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean these demons are from another faction. That makes three if you count the warlocks I mobilized."

Paige rolled her eyes. "I see your point, but lighten up a little. Come on, we saved the innocent before he even got here."

"Am I supposed to care?" Natalia asked sardonically.

"Oh… right, I keep forgetting you're a demon. Still doesn't make sense that you're helping us."

"I don't want The Heir to take power."

"That can only count for so much, you know. You've helped us before, and that was way before The Heir even showed up. I still have a feeling there's some sort of deeper reason."

Natalia only shrugged. "I _hate _talking to social workers."

"Ex-social worker." Paige sighed. "I still say this is fishy."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean three factions fighting for the same territory. That's not a pattern, it's a conspiracy. Now that I've seen them, they're not just determined to get it, they're desperate, and for a hotel."

"What are you getting at?"

Paige didn't answer. She just grabbed the sorceress by the arm to start the orb. "Come on, I'm gonna need a map."

"Piper?" Phoebe called, climbing the staircase to the attic. To her dismay she found her sister slumped over the small table in the attic, still in the clothes she had been wearing last night. Several maps of the country were spread out in front of her, the scrying crystal was dangling from its chain in her hand. Phoebe roused her and Piper awoke with a start.

"It's okay honey, it's just me. Have you been up all night?"

"Umm…" Piper rubbed her eyes, "Yeah. I've been scrying for Carey all over the country, but I haven't gotten any reads on her yet."

Phoebe pulled the map away and kneeled next to her sister. "Well… did it occur to you that there might not be anything to find?"

"No!" Piper barked, shaking an angry finger at her younger sister. "Don't start with that. We are going to find her, and after we blast the sorry wack-job that's trying to kill us, Zack and Cody will have their mom back."

"But--"

"But nothing, Phoebe! We don't even know for sure if they got her."

"Kurt said she never came back."

"That could mean anything."

Phoebe cast her eyes down, hating that her sister was choosing _now _to be an optimist. "Okay, if you say so. But if we don't make it in time—"

"I told you, that's not an option, not for them. We didn't have our mom to help us through all this, and it was hell going it alone. If we can stop them from going through the same thing, then dammit, we are going to do it!" Piper snatched the map away from her sister and began to scry again, leaving no room for argument.

Phoebe sighed and got to her feet. She moved towards the back of the attic where they kept some of the potion ingredients—the more dangerous ones. "Piper, have you seen the wraith essence?"

Piper almost dropped the crystal. She turned her head enough to see the degree of ingredients Phoebe was gathering. The last time they'd used some of those had been…

"Is there something you're not telling me?" Phoebe didn't answer. "Phoebe, why do we need wraith essence?"

Phoebe looked up from her work to look at her sister. There was no getting past that apprehensive gaze. It was like having a stare-down with a stone. "I, uh… I had a premonition last night."

"Yeah, and?"

"Do you remember when I was carrying the spawn of The Source?" Phoebe could see Piper try to suppress a shudder. Both were dreading what was coming next. "Well, it survived and fed on demonic powers until it could gain a new body. It's The Heir."

This time Piper did drop the crystal which fell to the floor with a clatter. "Are you telling me that the Source of all Evil is back and that he's after the boys?"

"Not completely. He doesn't have all of his power back yet. We might still have a chance if—" Piper made a cut-off motion as they both heard bare footsteps making their way up the stairs. "—if we get to the grocery store right now before they run out. Hey sweetie." Phoebe turned to see Zack trudging through the door to the attic, still in the oversized pajamas she had loaned him. She'd gotten quite good at feigning a casual attitude over the years, no matter the circumstances. "Sleep good?"

"Not really." Zack sighed. Phoebe almost chuckled. He sure could've fooled her with all his snoring. Instead she tried to sound sympathetic -- not especially difficult since she had come to care for the boys over their time together.

"What's the matter?"

"I'm worried about Cody." He admitted. "He's been shut up with the book all morning."

"Oh that's normal, honey." Piper assured him.

"Yeah," Phoebe agreed, "this life can be pretty tough, and we all have our own way of dealing with it… well, except for Piper. Piper just worries."

Piper glowered at Phoebe's remark.

"But he won't even talk to me. He always tells me about his problems. I didn't think keeping Max's secret would make him so mad at me." The sisters could tell he was biting his lip, trying not to cry. Phoebe crossed the room to put her arms around him. He came up to her chest. Phoebe was surprised to find that he didn't even try to feel her up. He _must _be upset.

"It's okay, sweetie. He'll come around."

Piper rose from her kneeling position, surprised at how sore kneeling all night could make her legs. "I'll go talk to him. Zack, why don't you go with Phoebe to the kitchen. I'm sure she could use some help with the potion." She made a zip-the-lip gesture to her sister before making her way down the stairs to Wyatt's nursery where Cody had slept.

As Cody was sitting on a stool by the little table in the nursery, flipping through the pages of the Book of Shadows, one of the entries caught his interest.

**_NATALIA: A powerful upper-level demon sorceress of unknown origins. Extremely powerful magically, physically, and mentally. Centuries ago she forged an alliance with the Vampire Queen to overthrow The _**Source**_, leaving the Underworld in disarray. Has a network of contacts on both sides. She has been known to match the Power of Three, stroke for stroke. Seems obsessed with the Halliwell family history. Very few generations of Halliwell have escaped at least one encounter with her. She is a dangerous and cunning demonic soldier of fortune that should be avoided at all costs._**

Cody felt a shiver run down his spine. Even in illustration, Natalia's amethyst eyes seemed to dig into his mind, smiling like she knew all his dirty little secrets. He hated her with every fiber of his being, maybe even more than The Heir. Her very existence seemed hell-bent on screwing his life up. He flipped the page furiously, trying to erase her from his mind.

He finally found a spell that looked worth his time; _**The Instant Karma Spell. **He almost smiled at the thought of using it on Nat, wondering just how much bad karma the sorceress had managed to accumulate over the ages. He knew he probably shouldn't place as much blame on her as he was. She had only told him the truth, whether he'd wanted to hear it or not. It was all very confusing trying to decide who he was angry with._

He looked away from the pages momentarily to notice Wyatt. The toddler had just woken up, and was staring at him from over his crib.

"You're lucky." He told the baby. "There won't be any secrets for you. Your Mom's going to let you grow up knowing all about it, your powers, your destiny, everything. She trusts you." He caught sight of a picture on the end-table by the crib. It was of Prue. She was smiling at him as if she knew something he didn't. "I wish I could be more like you." He mumbled to the picture. "Strong, fearless, solid, you probably had an answer for everything."

"You should give yourself a little more credit." Cody jumped at Piper's voice. He hadn't heard her enter. "She was a lot like you when she was alive. Whenever there was a problem, I always found her with her nose in that book ready to take on the world."

He looked back at the picture. "Do you miss her?"

"Every day." She replied, pulling up another stool to sit by him. She noticed his hair was tied back in a ponytail. She'd come to realize he didn't just tie it back for cooking anymore, but for concentration Prue had done that too.

Piper took note of the spell he was studying. "The Instant Karma spell. Nice choice, but that's a little advanced don't you think?"

"Exactly." Cody returned to scanning the book. "Mom didn't trust me to learn this, so she took my powers without even giving me a chance. So I'm going to learn as much as I can, and there's nothing she can do about it."

Piper put her arm around him. "That's a little harsh."

"You didn't see what I saw."

"You mean what Natalia showed you?" Cody froze, remembering how urgently Piper had instructed him to keep his distance from the sorceress. "Don't worry, I knew she'd get to you eventually. Good or evil, Nat's always been smart. I don't know what she told you—"

"She told me enough." Cody retorted.

Piper continued as if he hadn't spoken. "But I promise you, it wasn't the whole story. I'm sure your mother had a good reason for doing what she did."

"How can you be so sure?" Cody tried to pull away from her.

"Because our mother did the same thing." Cody looked away from the book to look her in the eye for the first time. "She did it to protect us. We were actually much older than you when we got our powers."

"Weren't you mad?"

"A little, but you know what?" If being a witch has taught me anything, it's that everything happens for a reason. Because of what our mother did we weren't as prepared as we might've been, but we got something better. We had a childhood."

Cody looked back down at the book to hide his tears while he processed her words. "I… I can't help it. I'm angry at her. Sometimes I even… I even hate her. I don't want to, but I do. Does that make me… bad?"

Piper pulled him close, allowing him to cry freely into her chest, and stroked her fingers through his shaggy blond hair. "Now you listen. You are not a bad person. I've only known you for a few days, but I can tell you that much. You're a very good person. Anger, sadness, resentment, these are all emotions. They're what set us apart from evil. Whatever you're feeling for your mom are just issues you need to work out with her, and definitely not with Nat. And you need to stop taking it out on Zack and Max. That was Nat's fault, not theirs."

He returned her embrace, wrapping his arms tightly around her. He smiled a little. It felt good to get some of this off his chest, and get a little guidance.

"Thanks Piper." He stopped crying, not wanting her to see him like this. He pulled away to wipe his tears away. That's when he and Piper noticed the pages of the book flipping on their own. "Does it do that a lot?"

"Only when it wants to tell us something." Piper replied as the pages stopped.

"The Final—" Cody began, but Piper quickly silenced him.

"Don't read out loud. You read from the book out loud, it goes from reading to chanting. I learned that the hard way."

"Right, sorry." He apologized, a little abashed. The Heading read, "The Final Prophecy of Melinda Warren." That name… where had he heard it before? He was sure he had. He quickly forgot however when he read the rest.

_**The Final Prophecy of Melinda Warren**_

_**(Shortly after revelation of The Charmed Ones)**_

_**When full moon's risen high a shadow will rise,**_

_**to**__** blot out the sun and cover the skies.**_

_**Thrice hath it risen, thrice hath it died,**_

_**but**__** rises again where great powers lie.**_

_**Alas it may only fall through grace of heaven,**_

_**when**__** Power of Three is cast by seven.**_

"What does it mean?" Cody asked, hoping Piper would have an answer. Instead she disappointed him.

"I don't know." She kept staring at the page as if it were a time-bomb about to go off.

"Love what you've done with the place." Paige remarked on Natalia's corner of the Underworld. She knew the sorceress had odd taste, but she'd never imagined she preferred living in twelfth century gothic. It wasn't dark and dreary like the rest of the Underworld, but it was sinister in its own light.

"Well, I try." Natalia replied flatly, setting the atlas on the large marble table. Paige was startled to see that she had removed her trench-coat and that her only top was a black leather corset with an open drawstring front. Her arms were adorned with two black leather armbands. She looked like something out of a comic book. Only Nat could've pulled that outfit off.

The demoness flipped the book open to a surprisingly current map of Boston, and pointed to a spot on the page. "That is the Tipton."

"Perfect." Paige answered, gesturing toward one of the shelves along the wall. "Quill." She called, causing one of the plumed quills to orb into her waiting hand. "Could you try a pen next time?" she chided before beginning her search. She marked several areas that surrounded the hotel.

"I still don't know what you're looking for." Natalia queried, leaning over the table.

"If I'm right, then you will… didn't this park used to be a forest?"

"Yes." Natalia replied with steady realization, as Paige marked the fifth spot on the map and began connecting them. "Fire, water, earth, metal, and wood."

"A Nexus." Paige finished her thought. "The Tipton is housing a nexus."

"Rises again where great powers lie." Nat whispered.

"What?"

"Nothing." Natalia replied monotonously. "I think we should get back to the manor and tell your sisters."

"Sure." Paige agreed hesitantly. She wasn't sure what she hated more about working with Nat; the fact that she was a demon, or all the secrets.

Piper and Cody descended into the living room, Piper carrying Wyatt on her hip, and Cody with the Book of Shadows. "Phoebe?" Piper called, prompting her and Zack to leave their potion mixing in the kitchen. Zack looked up to see that Cody was accompanying Piper, and crossed the room to meet him.

"Cody, listen. I'm really sorry about not telling you about Max."

"It's okay." Cody replied. "It wasn't your fault. And I'm sorry about throwing you into the wall."

Zack smiled. "That's okay. It was a pretty wimpy throw anyway."

Cody rolled his eyes and placed the book on the coffee table, still open to the page he and Piper had discovered. "Friends again?"

"The best." Zack answered, extending his hand. He and Cody slapped five and executed the special handshake they had used since they were seven. Piper smiled, glad to see that the boys were on speaking terms again. Phoebe peered at the open page in the Book of Shadows.

"The Final Prophecy of Melinda Warren? Says here she wrote it just before her execution. You think it has something to do with us?" Before Piper could answer, Paige orbed into the room followed closely by Natalia's shadow.

"The Tipton is a Nexus." Paige blurted. Everyone's breath seemed to catch in their throats.

Zack tilted his head to one side. "A what now?

"A place equidistant from the five elements that serves as a concentration for spiritual energy." Cody explained.

Zack furrowed his brows. "A what now?" he repeated.

Cody rolled his eyes and shook his head. "It's a supernatural powerhouse."

"Whoa!" Zack exclaimed. "That's why The Heir wants it?"

"If he gets his hands on its power, we just won't be in danger. We'll be dead." Natalia stated as casually as if she were ordering dinner, earning her a stern look from Piper.

"That's not all." Phoebe interjected. "The book opened itself to this page." They all gathered around to read it.

"What do you think it means?" Paige asked.

"Well, the shadow that died three times, that's got to be The Source." Phoebe answered, not realizing her slip until Piper smacked her arm. "I mean The Heir."

"The Source?!" Cody cried. "Your mortal enemy that you already vanquished, that Source?!"

"Phoebe's ex-husband?" Zack shuddered.

"Wait a minute, The Source is back, and you didn't tell me?!" Paige scolded, smacking both her sister's arms.

Phoebe shrugged at her older sister, who moaned and motioned angrily at her. "Alright, it's already out in the open. You might as well explain."

Phoebe took a breath, trying to find the right words. "I had a premonition last night. The last time we fought The Source, its spirit survived The Seer's destruction, and fed on demonic powers until it could get a new body. It's The Heir."

Phoebe's grim explanation was interrupted by two clusters of orbs dropping into the living room as Leo and Max returned. Max's eyes flickered briefly at Cody, but she quickly looked back to the floor. Cody felt a pang in his stomach. He wanted to apologize, but he knew that now wasn't the time.

"Leo, what did you find out?" Piper asked.

"Nothing good." He frowned. "The Heir had The Grimoire taken back."

"Was there a downpour of bad news in our forecast that I wasn't aware of?" Paige griped.

"The Grimoire?" Phoebe gasped. "But if he has that, he…"

"He can become The Source again." Piper glowered.

"So how do we stop that?" Zack asked.

"You don't, we do." Piper reprimanded. "Trust me; this guy is way out of your league. We've vanquished him three times, and barely escaped with our lives. You two are staying here where it's safe."

The boys were about to argue, but they were interrupted by a harsh voice that didn't belong to anyone in the room. "Nowhere is safe." It growled. They all cast their eyes warily around the room, trying to locate the owner f the voice.

Piper inched towards her husband, scooping her son up. "Leo, get Wyatt out of here." Her husband took the baby, but hesitated. "GO!" Piper cried. Leo orbed out with their son just as twenty swarm-demons shimmered into the room, brandishing fireballs, faces covered, and each one ready for battle.


	12. Chapter 11: Assassnation

Chapter 11: Assassination

The Swarm demons surrounded, taking aim with their fireballs. The party took defensive stances (save Natalia who remained utterly calm). After a few moments of tense silence, every demon through a fireball at the party with no specific target. The group quickly dived out of the way.

Paige was the first to jump back to her feet, holding out her hand in front of her. "Fireballs!" Three of the dangerous projectiles reversed course, and hit their owners, killing them with their own weapons. Piper rose next, and froze the second wave of fireballs, and proceeded to combust the ranks of demons. Max drew her athame and began dancing in and out of their ranks, vanquishing them as she went.

With their fireballs frozen, the demons found themselves easily thrown by Cody's telekinesis. With a wave of his hand they went flying backwards, giving Zack the opening he needed to strike them with flames of his own.

Phoebe was using an awesome blend of her levitation power and her martial arts while Natalia performed a similar feat, combining her hand-to-hand prowess with her lightning. Both women were taking on three demons at once. Both were deadly and brutal as well as beautiful in their movements.

"Go for the center of their rib-cage!" Natalia called. "That way they can't multiply!"

More swarm demons began to shimmer in, but found that they were no match for the cadre of witches, the sorceress and the feisty whitelighter. Eventually their ranks diminished until there was no more. Once the room was devoid of demons--excluding Nat—Paige began inspecting the battleground.

"A few couches turned over, a scorch-mark here & there, but we didn't break a single window. I'd say that's a record."

"Oh no, the clock!" Piper moaned, bending over the shattered remains of the grandfather clock that had stood in the living room, only to be destroyed for the infinitieth time.

"Never mind." Paige muttered.

"Well that was random." Max grimaced, sheathing her weapon in the leather holster she kept concealed under her jean coat.

Phoebe pondered her words for a moment. "Hmm, I don't buy it. If he wanted us dead he would've sent the king, but they stopped multiplying after awhile. What if The Heir wasn't trying to eliminate us."

"He was trying to distract us." Paige finished. "But that means something's going down t the Tipton!" Paige dug into her pocket for her cell phone, and the card Moseby had given her during her stay. With exceptional skill of the thumb she dialed his number and waited anxiously for him to answer.

"Tipton Hotel," came the manager's congenial voice, "Marion Moseby speaking. How may I help you?"

"Moseby!" Paige yelped. She calmed herself, trying not to sound too intense—not an easy feat when everyone else in the room was crowding around to get a listen. "It's Paige. Is… is there anything going on over there—I mean down there… in the lobby?" She corrected, realizing that the manager was not aware of their impromptu departure. "Anything to do with Carlisle?"

"No, I don't think so." He replied. "In fact, Mr. Carlisle is with London and Madeline right now. Their presentation is ready, and he seemed anxious to se it."

London! Paige though as it became clear what was about to happen. "Moseby, you need to get London out of there. Actually it might be best if you evacuate the entire hotel. Hurry."

Moseby was flabbergasted. "B-b-but the meeting is about to start at any moment! What's going on? I thought—"

"Never mind!" Paige ground her teeth. "It's important! Something very bad is about to happen, and everyone in the hotel is in potential danger… make that immediate danger! Just do it!"

"B-but—"

"Thanks, I knew I could count on you." Paige cut him off, clicking the phone shut.

"What's wrong with London?!" Zack asked, his words reflecting everyone else's worry.

"She's about to meet with Carlisle."

"He must've decided its time to get her out of the way for the buy-out." Piper added grimly.

"If he kills her, nothing is going to stop him from taking the Tipton!" Phoebe pointed out.

"We have to stop him!" Cody cried, fury and panic rising in him with genuine concern for his friend.

"Come on!" Max grabbed Zack & Cody by the wrists before orbing the three of them back to Boston.

"Wait for us!" Piper scolded after the trail of orbs. "Paige, hop-to missy." Paige did as her sister directed, orbing after the adolescents.

"I'll meet you there." Natalia called after them. She glanced briefly at the Book of Shadows, wondering how it had managed to open itself to that particular page after she had enchanted it to keep that entry hidden. She just shrugged, supposing that there was no delaying the inevitable. "The stage is set." She muttered before shadowing away.

"Right this way please." London directed Carlisle into her suite at the topmost floor. It was a luxurious room with a glass double-door on the back wall that led to a beautiful stone balcony, adorned with seemingly ancient gargoyles.

Carlisle brushed her aside and allowed himself in. London felt rather confused at his apparent lack of manners. Her father never would have acted that way. Business men were all about appearing respectable. She just shrugged it off and motioned for Maddie to follow him before entering the suite herself. Maddie just nodded glumly and followed suit. She hadn't quite been herself lately, and it was starting to bother London. She decided to just focus on her presentation for now, and worry about her friend later.

London looked up to face her corporate opponent when she noticed something wrong. "Maddie, where's the projector?"

There was a click, and London whirled around to see a man with close-cropped brown hair and goatee dressed in a black suit, sealing the deadbolt on her door. Rupert Stryker.

"You have a lovely suite Miss Tipton." Carlisle sneered. "You should be honored that I'm going to make it mine." London looked back to see the slick-haired CEO smiling at her like a jackal to prey.

"What's going on?" she stammered.

Maddie laughed shrilly and suddenly it wasn't Maddie standing there anymore, but Helen Stryker. Carlisle stepped menacingly toward London who found that her feet were rooted to the floor. She tried to scream, but found it caught in her throat as Carlisle's beady black eyes flashed a piercing grey.

Carlisle's advance was stopped short as an alarm sounded—a shrill beeping that sounded like it was coming from every room in the hotel. He rolled his eyes and dropped to the floor as The Heir stepped out of him.

"The Charmed Ones." He growled.

Outside London's suite two sets of orbs appeared, followed closely by a shadow.

"You're sure this is it?" Phoebe asked.

"Yeah." Zack answered. "This is London's suite. They've got to be in there."

"Well why couldn't we just orb in?" Piper asked Paige.

"I tried. It must be blocked."

"Alright then, boys stand back. Nat, as long as you're here make yourself useful. I need you to combine your lightning with my exploding power."

"Good idea." The sorceress replied as her hands began to charge visibly. The others stood back as the two women unleashed their firepower on London's doorway. It took a few times before the door shattered under the strain.

Rupert and Helen looked up, startled as the cadre of witches made their way in. The party was met with a horrendous sight. They had caught The Heir in the midst of strangling London. On impulse Piper hit him with the most powerful blast she had. The Heir exploded into a million black pieces that swirled around the room in a cyclone, buzzing like a warm of hornets. With their master stunned, Helen and Rupert were forced to orb to safety. At the same time, Paige orbed to where London had fallen unconscious, then back with the others.

In a cloud of black The Heir reformed and cracked his neck. "Cute trick witches. I see you brought the brats. Good, because I have something for them." He hissed, tossing something silvery to the floor. Their breath stilled when they saw what it was; an earring. More importantly, the earring their mother had planned to wear for her show.

Zack narrowed his eyes and was infuriated to feel the sting of tears at the back of them. He held up his hands, fire roaring to life in them. "What did you do to her?!"

"Nothing yet. My brute has her. She just sits in her cage pleading me not to hurt her boys." The Heir mocked.

In a rage Zack hurled both fireballs at him. The tattooed demon simply backhanded them without so much as a flinch. Cody threw up his hands, stopping the fireballs an inch from reaching his brother, and flung them into the wall.

"What do you want with them?" Piper demanded, taking a protective stand in front of the twins.

"Nothing. I don't want them, I don't want their mother. I just want her." He extended his long finger to point to where London was lying.

"You want her, come and get her." Phoebe taunted.

"You think me foolish enough to fight you all at once?" He kept talking to them, but his eyes were intent on Zack and Cody. "If the brats know what's good for them, they'll bring me Miss Tipton tonight, at the park, at eight pm, alone."

Max pushed her way to the front of the group, her athame at the ready. "You leave them out of this!"

"What are you going to do about it, whitelighter?" The Heir grinned with his angular teeth. "Orb me to death? Or maybe you'll impale me with your little toy."

Max screeched with rage and threw her athame with deadly aim for his neck. The Heir laughed insanely before vanishing in a wall of flames. The weapon whirled through the air and pegged itself in the opposite wall.

"We have to get her back!" Zack cried. "Piper we have to do something!"

Piper looked from Zack to Cody who was staring at the earring on the floor with wide eyes and unexpressed panic. His breathing was becoming rapid and irregular. She grabbed both boys by the shoulder.

"Listen to me. Listen to me!" She shook them and got down on her knees. She came up to their chests. "I promise we'll get her back. We _will _get her back, but right now we need to get London somewhere safe. Alright?"

They both hesitated but nodded as tears began stinging the backs of their eyes and trickling down their face. Piper pulled them to her and let them cry freely into her chest. She found that she too was beginning to cry. "Shhh, it'll be okay. We'll fix it. We will _fix _this."

Cody pulled tighter as Piper rubbed his back to calm him down. So much resentment he'd been carrying for his mother ever since he had discovered his powers. He hated himself for feeling that way. If something happened to her before he saw her again… Why? Why had this happened? It wasn't fair, it just wasn't fair.


	13. Chapter 12: Witches of Old

A/N: Yet another Natalia chapter. But it's the last one, I promise. I also managed to give one of my favorite characters from Charmed a brief cameo at the very end.

Chapter Twelve: Witches of Old

"I have to get back!" London cried, trying to shake Phoebe and Paige's hold on her. "They're all trapped there with… with that thing!"

"Calm down." Paige grunted, keeping a firm hold on London's arm as she and Phoebe kept her restrained to the couch of the manor's living room. "Moseby sounded the alarm. They're all evacuating the hotel as we speak."

Instead of calming down, however London actually managed to wrench her arm from Paige's grasp and send a fist into Phoebe's nose. Paige quickly tried to get her back under control while Piper just rolled her eyes.

"Oh for the love of—" the eldest Halliwell made the familiar gesture with her hand, freezing London mid-struggle on the couch. Meanwhile in the same room another heated argument was taking place.

"You knew about this didn't you!" Cody hollered, shaking an accusing finger at Natalia.

"I had suspicions they were targeting your mother, nothing more."

"Shut up! You've lied to me from the start! You don't care about me, or my mom! You don't care about anything!"

"Cody." Max warned, placing a hand on the hysterical fourteen-year-old's shoulder, which he shook off angrily.

Natalia merely rolled her shadowy purple eyes. "Believe what you want. You're a child. What can you possibly understand about caring for something?"

"I care about a lot of things, demon!" Cody bit venomously. "I care about Max, my brother, my mom, but you wouldn't know anything about that!"

"I understand more than you think." Natalia stated, raising her voice ever so slightly. "For instance, I know that you've done a pretty pathetic job of caring for those people. Just look at how you've treated them."

"That's because you made me!"

"I didn't make you do anything. You did it all on your own."

Cody couldn't take her arrogance anymore. He moved his hand as if he were going to use his power to throw the sorceress, but Natalia held out her own hand as if to block. Her strange birthmark was plainly visible on her palm.

"Careful, boy." She hissed. "I bound your powers once, I can do it again just as easily."

"You can try." Piper retorted, putting a protective arm around him. Zack moved to his side and pulled his brother away from where the two women's eyes locked intensely with each other. "I think he's right. For someone who's supposedly trying to help us, you've done an awful lot of manipulating, especially with him. There are a lot of things you're not telling us Nat."

Piper's words triggered a memory for Cody. Back in her chambers he had asked Natalia a question that, despite her promise she had refused to answer. "I know why she helped our mom bind our powers. Mom said she knew Melinda Warren."

All three sisters' gaze shot at the sorceress with incredulity. The air suddenly seemed as heavy as their moods. Phoebe was the first to break the silence. "You knew our ancestor, the same ancestor who started the Book of Shadows, and you never told us?"

"I'll bet you knew about that prophecy too." Paige added.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Piper demanded, remembering her own encounter with the kindly matriarch of her family line. "What did you have to do with Melinda? Did she do something to you, and you came looking for us for revenge?"

"That's none of your business." Natalia warned, her voice starting to rise again.

"Did you try to steal her powers, like Matthew Tate did?"

"Don't you _dare _compare me to him."

"I'll bet you got her to trust you, and then you stabbed her in the back."

"NOOOOOOO!!" Natalia roared. The entire room trembled with her rage, rocking on its foundations. Her dark raven hair writhed of its own accord, flinging sparks of purple electricity. Zack, Cody, and even Max covered their ears, feeling as though their heads would explode. At the last minute, Leo orbed back to the room, taking a stand in front of them.

"Phoebe, now!" Piper called.

Phoebe leapt for Natalia and grabbed her wrist. The sorceress, realizing what was happening threw her off, but it was too late. In that one loss of control Natalia had let down her defenses, allowing Phoebe the long awaited opportunity to receive a premonition of what the demoness had fought so desperately to keep hidden.

The entire coven stood frozen in their circle, unable to believe what had just shadowed into their midst in their dimly lit cave. The violet-eyed demoness stood in their midst, clad in black. She wore a cold smile on her face. No one dared to approach her, save for a heart-faced woman with piercing blue-green eyes.

"Melinda Warren, I presume."

"Natalia, your reputation precedes you."

"Likewise." Natalia replied dryly.

"What are you doing here?" The witch asked in a kindly but commanding tone.

"I'm actually here to enlist your help."

"And why would we help you." Came another voice, harsher than Melinda's. An older woman with rose-gold hair moved to Melinda's side. Eva Proctor had been her guardian from the day her mother died, and second in command within the coven.

"I'd be happy to tell you." Natalia answered arrogantly, seemingly calm in the face of so many witches. She cast her eyes around the rest of the circle. "And listen well, for this affects all of you." She looked back to Melinda. "As you may have heard, some four hundred years ago the Vampire Queen and I formed an alliance, and together we overthrew The Source." The mere mention of that name sent a shiver down the entire circle's spine. Even Melinda could not suppress a shudder. "But unfortunately we could not vanquish him. He escaped and is now looking for a way to regain his power. If he does, things will be dark for everyone. With our combined powers I think we can see to it that he is stopped from ever returning."

"Why should we trust you?" Eva growled.

"You can't. But it's either that, or you can just sit back and let The Source regain his throne." There was a murmur throughout the gathering.

Melinda stared at Natalia a moment before speaking. "The Council leaders will discuss your proposal." She turned, beckoning Eva and two others to follow her into a separate chamber in the cave. One of them stared resentfully back at her. Natalia was surprised to see that it was a man with shoulder-length brown hair and dull brown eyes. It wasn't common to see a male in such high authority among witches, but one look at how his hand clasped Melinda's answered the sorceress' question.

About an hour later they returned. Natalia hadn't moved an inch, for to her an hour was as fleeting as a minute. "Well?" She asked darkly.

"We have reached a decision." Melinda answered.

"And?"

"We agree to align with you, but on one condition."

"Name your term." Natalia folded her arms, knowing there was no getting past this.

"You don't harm any innocents."

Natalia grinned sinisterly and laughed wickedly in her dark velvet voice. "That's all? Consider it done." She removed one of her black gloves and extended her hand to Melinda, revealing the strange birthmark on her palm; a fire-colored eye with bat-like wings on either side. Melinda took the woman's hand hesitantly, and demon and witch struck their pact.

"They took Prudence." Natalia whispered, wincing from the grievous wound that spread from her right shoulder to the base of her neck. "They knew I was there. They caught me off guard."

"Don't worry." Melinda assured her. "He can't do anything without the Grimoire. Now hold still and let me look at that wound." She knelt beside her and began examining the injury. It appeared poison, no doubt specially designed for her.

"You seem awfully calm about your daughter's abduction. Why are you worried about me when your offspring is marked as a sacrifice for The Source?"

"Make no mistake, I'm furious that they took my daughter, and when we find them they'll pay dearly for touching her. But like I said, the mission was a success. We took the Grimoire and Matthew has it hidden somewhere safe." Melinda indicated the handsome man that Natalia had come to know as Matthew Tate. "Eva is guarding it right now."

Matthew pulled Melinda aside. "She's right." He whispered, but Natalia heard anyway. "Your daughter is a hostage and you're wasting time healing a demon."

"Do you think I'm happy about the situation? But she's gotten us this far, and I don't think we can save Prudence without her."

"How do we even know we can trust her?"

Melinda simply smiled. "Eva once said the same thing about you. I'm not asking you to trust her. I'm asking you to trust me. Now go back with Eva and protect the Grimoire."

"Wait." Matthew pulled a pewter locket from his pocket and clasped it about her neck. "Till we're together again." He pulled her close and kissed her passionately. She returned the same before pushing him away.

"Now go before this is all for naught."

Matthew vanished into the darkness, leaving Melinda to care for Nat. Natalia just stared at the witch, perplexed by her words and her actions. "Melinda, I… I know you don't trust me completely, but I want you to know something." She swallowed, feeling just as surprised by her own words as Melinda was herself. But they had grown close in the few weeks that they had worked together. "I really do appreciate your kindness to me. You've helped me far more than is necessary, putting yourself, your friends, your family in danger."

Melinda smiled with her full rosebud lips. "That's what family does for each other. So long as you're with us, you're part of our coven, and that's family enough."

Natalia cast down her eyes, unsure how to take Melinda's words. After awhile she finally answered. "Thank you."

This was it. This was where it would all end—in this grove, at this vile altar. The Source, stripped of most of his power, was forced to perform the ritual in the mortal world. In the surrounding trees the members of the circle watched the council leaders as well as The Seer mull about, and waited for the plan to be executed.

"Remember," Natalia whispered, "When the ritual begins The Source will be distracted. The entire coven needs to combine their power and channel it into me. Then I'll use it to destroy him." Melinda nodded, her eyes never wavering from the dark haired little girl that lay comatose in the center of the altar. How painful it must have been for her to sit in wait, unable to go to her daughter. But this could be their only clear shot at The Source, and she had come to trust Natalia as a sister.

As if in response to their thoughts, The Source appeared in the middle of the grove in a cloud of flames, shrouded in black. His face was overshadowed by a dark hood, completely invisible.

"Shax!" He called, and in a sudden whirlwind, his personal assassin was at his side. He knelt before his master, presenting him with—to Melinda's horror—a black tome of untold evil. Two more demons shimmered behind Shax, holding a woman between them. Eva had been captured as well.

"The Grimoire?" she whispered, terror stricken. "Matthew… is he…"

"We can't worry about that right now. It's time to move." Natalia hissed, leaping from the shadows to strike the cloaked figure in the chest with a shaft of violet lightning. The Source staggered back, losing his hood in the process.

"You!" He growled through gritted teeth. He was a pale gaunt man with long black hair and a beard that hung to his waist. His eyes were two glassy black orbs of darkness. "Seer," He bellowed, "begin the ceremony!" The red robed woman did as directed, opening the Grimoire.

"Now!" The sorceress cried, firing her lightning at the tyrant. He met it head on with a beam of dark energy. The rest of the circle followed Melinda's lead and leapt from the trees to recite the spell. It was a compilation of the strongest spells Melinda had in her arsenal. In unison they began strengthening Natalia's power.

_**"Hell threw you from its inner **__**core,**__** Earth can't hold you anymore,**_

_**Since heaven cannot be your place, your flesh and blood we now erase!"**_

The shafts of Natalia's lightning multiplied and began to break off, striking down Shax and several council leaders when they tried to rush to their master's aid. The two demons who had held Eva went down as well, allowing her to join the circle.

_**"We balance all our energy to banish you to eternity!"**_

With no one else to distract it, Natalia's lightning curled and redirected itself into The Source who screeched in agony as the energy ripped into his face. His hair and beard began to shrivel and fall out.

_**"Tide of evil washed ashore, to bring this darkness evermore,**_

_**With all our strength we fight this fate to make this evil obliterate!"**_

With more and more streaks of lightning The Source was forced to his knees, still howling a bloodcurdling scream. Then there was another scream in the grove. It was Melinda's. She had heard a warlock blink behind her, just before he grabbed her and whispered in her ear.

"Surprise, Melinda."

"Matthew?!"

With the spell cut short by the overpowering of the coven's leader, The Source gained the upper hand. His beam shattered through Natalia's lightning, hitting her squarely in the abdomen. It sent her flying backwards into a tree with a sickening crack.

"Witch! I've caught the witch!" Matthew cried gleefully. Torchlight and angry voices of a mob could be distinguished in the background.

"Witch hunters!" Melinda cried. "Everyone flee! Get out of here!" Panic spread through the grove as the witches fled and the demons began to shimmer out.

"Seer, finish the spell!"

"Natalia!" Melinda hollered to be heard over the mania, still trying to shake Matthew. "Get Prudence, and escape!"

"But you'll—"

"Just go!"

Natalia growled with fury in her throat, snapping her ribs back into place from the impact. In a desperate move she lunged The Source, sending him tumbling backwards into the altar. He remained stunned long enough for the sorceress to grab the little girl and shadow away.

"NO!!" The Source cried, casting his dark eyes about the grove. The attack had not only weakened him, it had completely disfigured his face. Gruesome scorch marks stretched across the entire right half of his face, apparently blinding his right eye. The only hair that remained were two sprigs of shriveled black hair on either side of his chin. But he refused to be beaten. He threw two fireballs at two of the escaping witches, killing them on impact. The Seer finished the ritual, and dark energy glowed from every pore in his body. He turned back to Melinda with his newly deformed face, grinning fiendishly. "It is done."

Melinda cried out in sorrow for her fallen sisters, and in despair for their efforts while Matthew kept her restrained waiting for the witch hunters. They had failed.

Melinda looked up from her cell floor, quickly straightening herself as Natalia's shadow took form. She didn't want the sorceress to see her like this. She still had her dignity. "What new from the outside?"

Natalia sighed. "It was Matthew, a warlock and a spy for The Source under our very noses this entire time. After their plan to kill me failed, Matthew was told to gather more information on our plan. They decided that the easiest way to stop us…" the sorceress swallowed, unable to look Melinda in the eye any longer, "was to abduct the leader of the coven."

Melinda nodded. "How did he get the information?"

"The locket." Natalia glared at the hateful thing as Melinda unclasped it from around her neck.

"How fitting that it will be his undoing. Did you bring the ingredients?"

"Right here." Natalia replied, pulling a woven pouch from the inside of her cloak. "If that curse is as powerful as you say it is, Matthew Tate won't be in any position to betray anyone ever again."

Melinda took the pouch gratefully, then met Natalia's gaze, afraid to ask. "What of the others?"

The other woman's expression was answer enough. "Some escaped, but others were caught."

"Prudence?"

"She's safe, as I promised."

"And Eva?"

"She escaped. No one thinks she was involved. She's with Prudence now."

"And what of the Book of Shadows?"

Natalia rolled her eyes. "You know I can't touch it."

"But you know where it is. I need you to add this to it." Melinda pulled a sheet of parchment from the folds of her skirt. "I wrote it last night in the midst of a vision. I saw each generation of Warren witches growing stronger and stronger, culminating in the arrival of three sisters. They're known as The Charmed Ones. It is their destiny to vanquish The Source. And they will not once, but three times. But he will rise again once more, and if that happens the only way to vanquish him for good will be for the Power of Three to be cast by seven."

Natalia took the page and stared at it, unable to make any sense of it. "Clearly the power of three means The Charmed Ones, but who are the other four?"

Melinda took the woman's hands in her own, tears filling her eyes. "That's what I need you for, my friend."

Natalia choked. "What?"

"When The Charmed Ones surface you must begin searching for four others that will band with them to destroy The Source for good." There was a resounding clang as the jailhouse door was opened. Two sets of footsteps and the jangling of keys could be heard. "That's Matthew. Go quickly." She whispered urgently.

The sorceress shadowed and reformed outside Melinda's barred window just in time to watch.

"Well you can keep your trinkets too." Melinda declared, ripping the locket off her neck and throwing it at Matthew's feet. He merely smirked at her and gathered it up, foolish enough to open it.

"I'll find another witch to give it to."

"Maybe not." Melinda smiled triumphantly as Matthew pulled the tiny red parcel from the inside of the necklace. It sparked, and disintegrated in his hand. There was a sudden gust of wind in the cell.

"What is this magic?!" Matthew demanded.

"I'm taking back the powers you stole from me. _**Outside of time, Outside of gain, know only sorrow, know only pain!"** And in a flash of light, Matthew Tate vanished into the pewter medallion. Melinda snatched it up and took it to the barred window, dropping it into Natalia's waiting hands. "Make sure it's never found."_

"That should be easy."

"Be careful my friend."

"I will. The Source can't find me if I don't want to be found, not even in the Underworld." Natalia clasped her friend's hands one last time before vanishing from sight.

"Rest in peace you miserable wretch." Natalia growled, tossing the locket over the side of the bridge, sending it into the river below. She looked back down the hill from astride her dark horse. She could make out the town and the smoke from the stake where Melinda was already burning. Her fists tightened on the reins until her knuckles clicked. "I swear I will find the seven, and end this."

"Enough games Kira." Natalia hissed at the young seer. "Show me the seven."

"We've tried this, Nat." The insufferable seer actually had the audacity to smirk at her."I'm not getting anything in the pool." She gestured to her large cauldron of bubbling fog. "I do see another run-in for you with The Charmed Ones. Careful, it looks like Piper has a dangerous new power. Doesn't look like Belthazor is going to be a problem for much longer though."

"Fine, nothing about the seven. But if I don't find them soon, everything we've worked for will collapse."

"Fine, fine, fine." Kira grumbled. "Read me that prophecy again?"

Natalia pulled out the copy she had carried every day since Melinda's death. "When full moon's risen high, a shadow—"

"No, no, after that."

Natalia narrowed her eyes. "Thrice has it risen—"

"No, after that."

"But the shadow may fall—"

"Before that."

"Will you just tell me what you want?"

"Sorry." Kira grinned. "I just kind'a like screwing with you." She took the sheet and scanned it briefly. "Here it is: Rises again where great powers lie. That's where the seven will gather." She waved her hand elegantly over the pool. The fog rose up and cleared, revealing an image of a large prominent building towering over a busy street. An elegant gold T was emblazoned on its doors. Natalia furrowed her brows at the image.

Kira giggled cutely. "The Tipton hotel, sweet!"

"So now you know." Natalia hissed to Phoebe as the premonition faded. "She and I began this. She treated me like a sister, and for that I will put that monster back in the wasteland where he belongs."


	14. Chapter 13: Who's Fight?

Chapter Thirteen: Who's Fight?

Everyone in the living room could scarcely breath, unable to take their eyes off the sorceress when Phoebe had finished explaining the premonition.

"Why didn't you ever tell us about this?" Paige stammered.

"Because it was none of your business." The sorceress answered bitingly.

"You being involved in a major battle against our destined enemy with our ancestor, I'd say that counts as our business." Piper bit back.

Natalia's eyes were downcast. They had never seen the sorceress so contrite. All her usual demeanor was nowhere to be found. "Because I knew that if you found out, you'd want to fight alongside me, just as Melinda had done. She died because of me." If she weren't a demon, the others could almost see where her tears would be. "I dragged Melinda into _my _fight, and she died for it."

"But you said so yourself, that the seven have to fight him, and you know that includes us." Phoebe pointed out.

"You're correct. After research over the ages I discovered that the seven have to be connected by blood to the witches who fought The Source in that grove, and they must be powerful enough to cast a Power of Three spell. The only surviving bloodlines strong enough are Melinda Warren's and Eva Proctor's."

"Where are you going with this?" Piper interjected.

"What I mean is that now I know that these boys are part of the seven as well. So tell me, are the three of you so ready to throw them into the lion's den?" The three sister's reaction answered Natalia's question wordlessly. "Then you of all people should understand my actions."

"Zack, Cody, upstairs. We need to talk to Nat alone." Piper told them. They both stood where they were, debating whether or not it would be wise to argue with her. "Now!" She barked again, prompting their immediate retreat.

"Come on." Max beckoned. The three of them trudged up the stairs, but Cody waited at the top. Zack and Max tried to pull him along, but he just shook them off. Zack looked at Max with worry written on his face. It wasn't like Cody to disobey. Come to think of it, it wasn't much like _himself_to obey. He crouched by his brother, listening to the conversation.

"It doesn't make much difference either way." Natalia drawled, seeming back to her usual self. "I've only managed to locate five. The other two have eluded me."

"What about Carey? Do you think that's why The Heir took her?" Phoebe deduced.

"No, she's not a witch. It skipped her generation. Besides, The Heir knows nothing of the seven. Not even The Elders know. I've had that page of the book enchanted to hide itself to prevent that. I still don't know how it revealed itself."

"Well whether she's part of this or not, we still need to get her out of there." Piper affirmed.

"What about the Call-A-Lost-Witch spell?" Paige interjected.

"I don't think it'll work." Phoebe sighed. "Wherever they are, The Heir probably has it protected."

"But you said you've reversed it before." Natalia added. "Maybe it could take us to her.

"What about the boys?" Phoebe asked. "Shouldn't they come with us?"

"No." Piper shot at her sister, leaving no room for argument. "This isn't their fight. We dragged them into this. We'll find Care, and try to take out The Heir the old fashioned way before he gets his power back."

The twins and Max looked back at each other. Cody's expression was unreadable. "Come on." He motioned. The three of them met in the attic. "They're wrong." He grimaced. "It's not their fight. She's _our_ mom."

"I know." Zack assured him. "But they've been at this longer than we have. Maybe we should let them help us." He rubbed the long thin cut on his cheek where Helen had scratched him. It hadn't healed yet, and would likely leave a scar.

"But they're not going to help us. They're going to fight our battles for us. We can't let them do that."

"So what are you planning?" Max asked, surprising both of them.

"Max, you're not serious!" Zack stared at her in shock. "You're supposed to be our guide, so guide him _out_ of the crazy!"

"Yeah, but whitelighters are also supposed to trust their charges instincts, and I think Cody has a point. So what was your idea?" In truth she was still trying to make up for lying to him, still unsure if he had forgiven her.

Cody had similar feelings, still feeling guilt-ridden for the way he had treated her. He nodded, grateful for her support. "Zack, didn't you and Phoebe make a vanquishing potion?"

Zack's expression softened to one of curiosity. "Yeah, a powerful one. I can see why you tie your hair back now. I almost lost my facial hair."

Cody nodded again, not bothering to point out that Zack still didn't have any facial hair. "Alright, here's my idea. If we reverse the Call-A-Lost-Witch spell like Nat said, we might be able to find where The Heir is keeping mom. If he's there, we can use the potion. If it doesn't vanquish him, it might stun him long enough to get us out of there."

Zack sighed. "Well at least you didn't say we were going to take him on. Okay, I'm in."

"Me too." Max agreed. Cody's face was still blank.

"Alright, Max, Zack, you orb to the kitchen and get that potion. We might need something else in there to get past the sisters. I'll look for the spell and see what I can do with it." The other two nodded again before Max took Zack's hand and orbed out.

"Zack, Cody, get down here!" Piper called. She turned back to her sisters who stood ready and waiting with Natalia seated casually on the couch next to a still frozen London. "So we're all clear on the plan?"

"What plan?" Natalia drawled cynically. "We're orbing into battle to hit him with everything we have and hope it's enough. In other words 'wing it' like you always do."

"Well it's worked pretty damn well so far."

"How, may I ask? The Source has managed to resurface not once but twice under you noses. Only the seven can vanquish him for good."

Phoebe threw her hands in the air as if cursing fate. "Well Nat, we don't have time to wait for two more witches to just fall from the sky. I'm sorry about what happened between you and Melinda, okay? I really am, but we need to get Carey back, and I'm not about to send those boys to do our job."

Natalia narrowed her eyes as their whites turned black. "Then all your ancestor's efforts were wasted on you."

"Enough with the melodrama Nat." Piper ordered before turning to her husband who still had Wyatt in his arms. "Leo, keep the boys safe. Make sure they don't try anything stupid."

"Alright." He answered, kissing her on the cheek. "Be careful."

Before anyone else could say anything, Zack and Cody descended the stairs with Max trailing behind. All three had their hands behind their backs and their eyes trained to the floor. They were wearing new sets of street-clothes that Max had managed to purchase while the boys had written the new spell, since the ones they'd been wearing were the same ones they had escaped the Tipton in.

"You look like you're going somewhere." Piper remarked.

Cody looked up at her, his eyes apologetic before he had even done anything. "We're going for our mom."

"That's out of the question. It's too dangerous."

"We thought you'd say that. Max, now!" He shouted, prompting Max to whip her hand from behind her back to send a vial of gray potion spinning for Natalia. It shattered and puffed into a cloud of white smoke that filled the sorceress' nostrils, knocking her out cold. Zack threw his next, this time at Paige before she could orb it. Cody pulled three from behind his back and telekinetically threw them at Piper, Leo, and Phoebe. Leo's fall landed Wyatt hard on the floor. Seeing that his family was down for the count, he began to cry just as London unfroze.

"Get your hands off… me." The poor girl looked from one fallen sister to the next, then back at the twins. "Zack, Cody… what's going on?" The two simply looked at each other and nodded. CRASH! The last potion shattered at London's feet. She slumped over on the couch, her head landing in Natalia's lap.

Cody whistled admiringly. "Nice work Zack. Where did you get all the sleeping potions?"

"The kitchen cabinet. I guess they stockpile this stuff."

"There's no time to waste." Max reminded them. "We don't know how long this stuff lasts."

Cody crossed the room to where Wyatt sat crying. "Hey, it's okay buddy. It'll all be okay." He bent down and picked the toddler up carefully. He immediately stopped crying. "Listen, we need you to watch mommy and you're aunties for awhile okay? You think you can do that?" As if to answer, the little boy orbed out of Cody's arms and back onto the floor by his mother. "There's a good boy." Cody smiled.

"Come on, let's go." Max called again. The three of them raced up the staircase to the attic without another word.

The small cauldron sat bubbling in the center of the short round table. "Okay." Cody sighed, dreading what he was about to do. "Max, you need to stand over there, and Zack, you need to stand by me." They both shrugged, but did as he directed. Cody nodded and stared at Max. "Max, I… I just wanted to say I'm sorry."

Max blinked. "We'll have time for that later." She scolded, although she secretly hated to put this off.

Cody continued as if she hadn't spoken. "I know you'd never do anything to hurt me on purpose, and I shouldn't have treated you that way. But I need you to know that I wouldn't do anything to hurt you either. That's why…" he trailed off, reaching into his jean pocket, "I have to do this." Before either Max or Zack realized what he was doing, Cody had already thrown the last sleeping potion, and she was unconscious.

"What did you do that for?!" Zack demanded.

His twin stared back at him with that same blank expression that had taken the place of his usual cheerful smile. "This isn't her fight either. We have to do this alone." For once, Zack didn't argue. Cody didn't want to put anyone in danger for his sake, nevertheless he was glad to have his brother at his side.

The two knelt by the cauldron. Cody leaned over Max's fallen form to draw out her athame. He pricked his own index fonger with a grunt until he drew blood. Then he handed it to Zack who did the same. They held their fingers over the cauldron, forcing a few drops into it. It sparked in response. Cody drew out the paper with the spell written on it and held it so they both could read.

"_**Powers of the witches rise, course unseen across the skies.**_

_**Take us to you where you lie. Let us be there at your side.**_

_**Blood to blood we summon thee, blood to blood return to me."**_

A haze of white sparks swirled around the two, filling the entire attic with their glow. When they cleared, Max's athame fell to the hardwood floor next to her with a clang.

"Did we make it?" Zack's voice whispered in the darkness. "Is this the right place?"

"I don't—" Cody began, but another voice laughed darkly from the shadows.

"Rest assured, this is the place." The Heir taunted as he leapt from a cloud of flames. He was using his own body rather than Carlisle's. His heavy boots made an intimidating thud as they touched the ground. It sounded like grass. They had made it to the park, but… where was their mom? Suddenly, the long neat cut on Zack's cheek began to throb.

"Oh look." Came Helen Stryker's shrill cackling as she and her brother orbed in. She was holding her crossbow, and Rupert was dragging an unconscious captive by the collar. "They came to rescue their mommy, like good little boys." Carey was unconscious, but other than that she seemed fine.

"So," The Heir continued, "Where's the heiress?"

"Not here." Cody glowered, tightening his grip on the vial of silvery potion he held behind his back.

"I expected as much." The Heir began to circle them, like a wolf around frightened sheep. "You know, you boys are quite resourceful. Such a shame you lack common sense. You see, I'm not interested in that brainless flower at all. By removing her from where the Nexus stands, as well as evacuating the guests, you and The Charmed Ones have done most of my work for me. Your coming here is the last piece of the puzzle. You played right into my hands."

It was now or never. With telekinetically induced speed, Cody threw the potion. It spun through the air, sailing for the demon lord. Quicker than what is humanly possible, The Heir caught it an inch from his tattooed face.

"Impressive." He remarked in his low slightly ravaged voice. "A word of advice; vanquishing potions are meant to be thrown in a manner that prevents the enemy from catching it. Like this." It was all the warning he gave before tossing the potion back at them. Zack and Cody barely had time to dive out of the way before it exploded, alighting the entire park with fire. The flames parted briefly for The Heir to leap through them, his grey eyes intent on the young witches who were struggling to get to their feet.

Zack leapt back up, helping Cody to his feet before turning back to their adversary. He hurled fireball after fireball at The Heir with all the strength his young body possessed. The Heir simply knocked them away, closing the distance between him and the twins.

With his twin tiring, Cody moved his hand to throw The Heir backwards, but it was too late. He lunged them both, clamping his pale bony hands around both their faces. His grip was like ice.

"I don't remember the last time I was able to torture others myself. So much more exhilarating than having another demon do it for me." The brothers tried to pull his hands off, but he was holding them a foot off the ground and his grip was suffocating them. They couldn't even use their powers. "Did you know I need two sacrifices for the ritual to become what I once was? You see, your ancestor tried to stop me from regaining my power, and here you are to help me restore it again. The Grand Design has such a delicious sense of humor."

Things started to go dark as Cody lost consciousness. He could hear Zack's struggles cease. The Heir's chilling voice was the last thing he heard before his mind plunged into nothingness.

"Now your mother shall bury her children, just like what happened to dear old Prue."


	15. Chapter 14: A Stronger Bind

A/N: Lot of angst it this chapter. Sorry. Enjoy it anyway.

Chapter Fourteen: A Stronger Bind

Natalia opened one eye slowly, making sure Max and the boys were gone. She supposed she'd given them enough time. The sisters were still sound asleep. It had been an impressive escape, one that deserved for her to at least pretend to be asleep. She rose to her feet, prompting little Wyatt to glare in her direction and raise his magical blue force field around his loved ones.

"How endearing, you think that would stop me." She strode lithely across the room through Wyatt's shield as easily as if it were mist. She stopped briefly to pat his head. "A boy, Melinda never saw that coming. But you have the strength of your ancestors, no doubt about that." The boy never took his eyes off the demoness until she had stepped out of his shield and up the stairs.

Once Natalia reached the attic, she rolled her eyes. Max was lying unconscious on the floor with her athame lying a few feet away. "Amateurs. They left behind their fastest way out. Rise and shine." The sorceress waved her black gloved hand over the young whitelighter's slight form. Max gasped and lurched upright. "They're gone, little one. Cody knocked you out."

Max tossed a confused gaze around the attic, finding it vacant save for Natalia. "Why would he do that?" She breathed, hurt apparent in her voice.

"I think it would be obvious. For the same reason Melinda helped me. Why I've continued her work. Why the sisters do what they do for each other, and why you risked my anger to warn your charges."

"Just get to the point." Max groaned, starting to gather her senses.

Natalia sighed. "He loves you."

"What?!"

"It's true. I may not possess the gift of foresight, but I could still see that coming. You should consider yourself lucky. You two have found something most don't even believe in these days."

Max narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Why are you doing this? Why now? Three days ago you seemed hell-bent on keeping us apart."

Natalia's smile was a cold one, as usual. "I needed to test it. There are few things in this world more powerful, but it must overcome trials to grow. By taking those risks for them you strengthened that bond, and in doing so you strengthened them. It's that bond that truly strengthens power. That is why the sisters are so powerful. That is what will make the seven powerful enough to destroy The Source."

Max just knew her mouth was hanging open, but she hadn't found the will to close it. This woman, this demon, a being who should despise love above all else and work to destroy it, was saying that it would be the key to her victory. Not only that, she was speaking about it as if speaking of something sacred.

"I… I…" The girl stammered.

"I suggest you close your mouth and get moving. Your charges have been gone for about a half hour."

"What?! Why didn't you wake me up sooner?!"

"A simple thank you would suffice." Natalia placed a hand on her hip. Max glowered. "I had a reason. There is another bond that still needed to be tested; one that they needed to strengthen on their own. But I think I've given them enough time. Wherever they are, they're being shielded from orbing. You'll have to orb as far as you can and go the rest on foot. That shouldn't be a problem for you. You'll need this." She stretched her hand towards the dagger that sill lay on the floor, and it flew to her grasp. Max took it without taking her eyes off the violet eyed woman. Then, before either of them realized it, the young whitelighter wrapped her arms around Natalia's waist.

In spite of herself, Nat ran her fingers through Max's brown twin braids before dryly requesting, "Get off of me. You have work to do."

The girl smiled up at her before letting go. She sheathed her athame, buttoned her jean coat, and orbed out.

Natalia returned to the living room where Piper, Phoebe, Paige, Leo and London still lay fast asleep. Wyatt noticed her return and put up his shield, more in defiance than defense. She stepped through it as easily as before, scooped the child up, and sat him on her lap on the couch. "Let's not tell your mother about this." She whispered.

"Zack? Cody?!" His mother's voice cut through the blackness in Cody's mind. He felt like someone had taken a metal pipe and bruised every inch of his body. He felt himself being gathered up with his brother and squeezed tightly.

"I'm gonna hurl." He heard Zack groan.

"Oh, my babies! I'm so sorry!" Their mother kept saying between smothering them with kisses. "Are you alright?"

"We're fine mom." Cody grunted, pushing her away. He crawled away from her grasping, finding himself unable to stand. He tried to get a better look at their surroundings. They were in an underground chamber, dimly lit by a multitude of candles, and a fire-pit in the middle. They were in a corner of the chamber surrounded by a cage made crudely with wooden poles. "Where are we?" He breathed with both fascination and horror.

"The Underworld." Carey said sadly. "They've been keeping me here for a few days.

The Underworld, Cody thought in despair. That meant that no one would be able to sense them, and even if they did they'd risk fighting hordes of demons just to get there. To top it all off, with the only two whitelighters they knew of down for the count, they had no way of getting out of the cage, let alone the Underworld.

Zack stood up a little unsteadily, and dusted himself off. "Well we're here now, so this cell should be cake." He held out his hand, fire roaring to life in it.

"No don't—" But Zack threw the fireball before Cody could stop him. It was stopped by a flash of red that extended all along the cage, then it was thrown back, forcing Cody to shove his brother out of the way. Carey shrieked as it exploded against the wall.

Cody pulled himself and his brother to their feet. "Don't you think they'd check that before they threw us in here?!" He chastised.

Zack looked apologetic. "It was worth a try."

"If they put us in here without finding a way to block our powers they'd have to be stupider than you! I don't even think that's possible these days! Do you ever think ahead?!" Cody shoved Zack away.

Zack shoved his brother back. "I don't see you coming up with any bright ideas, genius!"

"Zack, Cody!" Carey scolded. "Fighting each other isn't going to help anyone." She said it automatically.

Cody turned his venom to his mother. It seemed like a very long time since he had seen her, and all the resentment, hurt, and confusion was past its boiling point. "Don't you DARE try to be our mom right now! You don't know what we've been though in the past week! Not only are you not around when we get our powers, you try to keep them from us!"

Carey fell silent, unable to believe the rage her son was directing at her. Tears stung the backs of her eyes, but she refused to let them through. One of them had to be calm, and both Zack and Cody needed to understand why she had done what she'd done those years ago.

Zack was equally stunned by Cody's anger at their own mom and tried to put a calming hand on his shoulder. "Cody—"

"NO!" Cody threw Zack's hand off. Every pain he had experienced since getting his powers was culminating into his anger. His mother's betrayal, his home being overrun by demons, Max's true identity, and worst of all, having to confide these feelings in Natalia. His mother was going to hear what he had to say.

"Do you have any idea how alone I've felt?! Who do you think you are, deciding if we can handle our powers or not?! You didn't even ask us how we felt! If it weren't for the sisters, I don't know where we'd be! They've taken better care of us in five days than you have our entire life! I…I HATE YOU!!" All of the boy's strength snapped with that last. He dropped to his knees and cried openly, letting tears stream down his face and into the sand on the ground.

A lump formed in Carey's throat as she knelt on the ground and inched toward her son. She reached for him, but he shunned her hand. She took a deep breath.

"Cody, do you know why I made the pact?"

He glared up at her. "Natalia said it was because you didn't think we could handle it, like grandma."

"Natalia?" Carey sighed. "Of course. Cody, I know I must have taken pretty bad care of your trust by doing what I did, and hiding the truth from you and your brother, but I need you to know why I did it. It wasn't because I didn't think you could handle it. I've had nothing but confidence in the both of you."

"Then why?" Cody's voice had subsided to a whimper. "Why did you do it?"

"Because I didn't think _**I**could handle it." Carey's own tears were starting to surface despite her efforts to keep her voice level. "I saw what my mother went through. It terrified me. I didn't have any powers. I was afraid…" She had to clear her throat before she could finish that sentence. "I was afraid that I wouldn't be strong enough to protect you. I couldn't bear losing you."_

Cody's flashed back to Piper, and how Prue's death had devastated her. How to this day it haunted her how she hadn't been able to stop it, even with her powers. Suddenly he could understand what his mother meant.

Carey swallowed hard. "But I realize how wrong of me it was to keep the truth from you. Can you ever forgive me?"

Cody threw his arms around her, beginning his cries anew. "I'm sorry mom."

Carey ran her fingers through his shaggy blond hair as he cried into her chest. "Shh, it's okay. It'll all be okay."

Cody could feel Zack's arms around him as well, and for the first time since his mom had left at the beginning of all this, they felt like a family again.

About an hour later, Zack broke the silence. "So… what do we do now?" He and his mother hadn't stopped holding Cody long after he'd stopped crying. Zack hadn't realized just how much these new powers, this new life had confused Cody. He supposed he'd been too busy living it up to have noticed that his brother didn't feel the same way.

"I don't know." His mother answered honestly.

Cody looked up, as if hearing something unexpected. "Max?"

"Max is here?" Zack asked. "How? I thought we knocked her out?"

"Max?" Carey furrowed her brows. "What does Max have to do with any of this?"

"Oh…" Zack realized his mother didn't know about their friend. "Yeah, um… Max is kind of his whitelighter."

"And you knocked her out, why? She could've orbed us out of here by now."

"Yeah, what are you, stupid?" Came a voice from the cave-like entrance. The three captives looked up to see Max darting across the chamber to them. The boys got up and clung to the bars, trying to remember a time they had been happier to see her.

"Max, how'd you find us?"

"When I couldn't sense you, I figured they'd taken you down here. Once I orbed here, it was pretty easy to track you from there. Now what were you two thinking?!" She demanded. "So help me, as soon as we're all safe I'm gonna hang you on hook by your underwear until you scream like a girl! Oh… hi Miss Martin." Max smiled sweetly. Carey waved with a warm smile on her face. Max had missed that, considering who she'd been living with. She began searching the bars for an opening, frustrated when her search proved in vain. "How the heck do I open this?"

"You don't." Came a low throaty voice. Max whirled around to see the Stryker Twins stride into the chamber, crossbows at the ready. They were followed by the brute demon who's form was so massive he had difficulty getting through the portal.

Helen smiled her blood red smile as she taunted Max in her shrill voice. "So, you're the little whitelighter whose been doing Natalia's dirty work. Look brother, she's come to rescue her baby charges."

"Only fitting, seeing that she's a baby whitelighter." The twins laughed in unison while the brute remained silent.

Max glared and gritted her teeth. Cody could see her reaching for her athame, strapped to her back under her coat.

"Max, no!" he whispered urgently. "Orb out of here or they'll kill you!"

"No. I'm not leaving you guys. I'm your whitelighter, it's my job."

"Sleep tight, little girl." Helen cackled as she and her brother fired their crossbows.

Max spun out of the way of the first poisoned steel bolt, and unsheathed her athame to knock the second away. The brute lunged and tried to grab her with his massive arms. He dived between his legs and leapt back up to slash at his back. He roared in fury and swung his arm in a backhand motion, sending her flying into the opposite wall.

The girl coughed as she rose to her hands and knees. Before she could get to her feet, she heard the crossbow cock. Rupert had orbed in front of her and was pointing his crossbow at her head. He chuckled smugly and pulled the trigger. Max rolled to the side, letting the arrow come to rest in the sand. Without breaking rhythm she swung her weapon upward, slicing the crossbow in half. Before Rupert could react, Max had leapt to her feet and plunged the athame into his stomach.

"NOOOO!!" Helen shrieked as her brother was swallowed by flames that could only come from his vanquish. She raised her crossbow, a murderous glint in her eyes. But she pointed it not at Max, but at Cody who was distracted by her current entanglement with the brute. The darklighter put her crimson-nailed finger to the trigger and fired.

"Cody!" Carey cried as the arrow spun through the air at her son. Cody looked ahead just in time to see the swirl of white lights that came between him and the poisonous arrow. His breath caught in his throat as Ma fell back into the bars of their cell, the bolt sticking out of her stomach. She looked up at Cody as he held her head in his hands, glassy eyed and making quick shuddering breaths.

Cody's fear turned to rage when he heard Helen's satisfied cackle and saw the brute demon moving in to finish the job. He looked back at his brother whose anger mirrored his own. They both felt powerful somehow. More powerful than they had been when they faced The Heir at the park. Their feelings for their fallen friend was fueling them It was as if their thoughts had become one as the joined hands, and extended the other two at their assailants.

The brute paused, and Helen's scarlet grin cracked when a fireball formed between the two boys. It was no bigger than a fist, but it was growing rapidly, and moving steadily forward. By the time it reached the bars of the cell it was the size of a basketball. The red shield glowed and sparked in protest, but it pushed its way through, shattering the bars into smoky splinters. It rose higher into the air, now an enormous orb of fire. At the command of the twins' combined powers it exploded into a fiery spray. Helen shrieked in terror, orbing to safety elsewhere. The brute wasn't as lucky and was hit with the full force of blast, obliterating in the midst of his final terrible roar.

Cody dropped his brother's hand and rushed to Max's side. His eyes became frantic as she seemed to be slipping further and further away. "Max! MAX! Don't leave! Hang on! I'm sorry! Please! I'm sorry I was such a jerk! I didn't mean it! We need you, don't go!" He cried, growing more manic by the second. Memories of her began to flash through his mind. When they had first met and he'd mistaken her for a boy. When they'd entered that dance competition together because Zack had sprained his ankle. The time she had kissed Zack and he'd been secretly jealous. Then the dance they had shared just two nights ago and had come so close to kissing.

He was so wrapped up in his panic that he hadn't noticed his mother was kneeling at Max's side. "Cody, calm down. I need you to hold her hand. This is going to hurt. Zack, I need you to keep her elevated."

The boys complied, but Cody couldn't help but feel this was hopeless. Darklighter arrows were poisoned especially to kill whitelighters, and as far as he knew, the only way to stop it was the healing touch of another whitelighter. But Max couldn't heal herself, and they had no way of escaping the Underworld to find another whitelighter in time. Nevertheless, he clasped Max's hand as if it were the only real thing in the world. Suddenly she grasped it back so tightly, he thought his fingers were going to snap. He looked up to see his mother pulling the arrow out.

Max screamed and squeezed Cody's hand tighter. She continued to moan as Carey pulled something from her pocket and began rubbing it on the wound. It was a slave of some kind, and Cody caught the faint scent of mandrake root. Dimly he wondered what his mother was doing with potion ingredients when his mind flashed back again and Natalia's voice cut through the haze.

_"The witch-gene skipped her generation. She grew up without powers. She could mix a potion or two, but that was about it."_

Before he could fully appreciate the significance of that skill that Natalia had so easily dismissed, Max's breathing had grown steadier. She blinked up at them.

"Zack? Cody?" She moaned, trying to get into a sitting position. "What happened? Where's Helen?"

"She escaped." Cody explained, hardly able to believe she was actually recovering.

"We got the brute though." Zack beamed, giving her the thumbs-up sign. She laughed, but quickly regretted it.

Carey felt the girl's forehead. "Shh. Max, honey, you need to save your energy. I stopped the poison from spreading, but we still need to get you some healing. Can you orb?"

Max groaned again. "I think so. Here, take my hands."

"Wait!" Came a hoarse voice from the shadows in the farther corner of the room. They could barely make out a second wooden cage, as it was the only part of the chamber that wasn't lit by firelight. The twins rose and moved toward it cautiously.

"Mom, stay with Max." Cody told her as he and Zack approached the bars. There was a man inside. Once they were close enough to read his features, he ran to the bars and reached out to them.

"Please, take me with you." He was barefoot, his clothes were torn and ragged, and his hair was disheveled, bit there was no mistaking the beady black eyes of Dominic Carlisle.


	16. Chapter 15: The Seven

A/N: It's starting come down to the wire. Ooooh the suspense! I apologize for the short chapter. I tried to give Zack a brief moment to shine in this chapter since a lot of this story has revolved around Cody.

Chapter 15: The Seven

"Rise and shine, beautiful." Natalia coaxed smoothly while kicking Piper sharply in the shoulder. The sorceress felt they'd been unconscious long enough.

Piper lurched forward. "Zack! Cody!"

"They're gone." Natalia explained, still seated on the couch with Wyatt on her lap. The toddler was quiet, but he didn't seem to enjoy it at all.

"What do you mean? Where did they—get away from my son!" Piper grabbed her baby from the demoness and crouched by her husband. "Leo! Leo, wake up, the boys are gone!"

Leo groaned. "What? What's going on?"

Phoebe and Paige were beginning to gather their senses as well. "Ugh, how long have we been out?"

"Two hours." Natalia replied.

"Two hours?!"

"I've got to hand it to those little upstarts." Paige snipped, dusting herself off and bending to help Phoebe up. "I knew they'd put up a fight, but I didn't see those sleeping potions coming."

"Wait." Phoebe mused. "Nat, I thought sleeping potions didn't work on you.

Natalia just shrugged and crossed her legs. "They must have tweaked the recipe. They're smart boys."

"People, can we focus?!" Piper cried. "Somebody start scrying, we've got to find them!"

"You think they're in trouble?" Phoebe asked, still rubbing her eyes.

"This is Zack and Cody we're talking about! Who knows what they've gotten themselves into in two hours! If they're not in trouble already, they're gonna be, now let's move!"

Despite Piper's insistence, a cloud of glowing orbs danced into the living room long before anyone had moved. Carey had her arms draped around her boys who were both supporting Max. The young brown eyed girl looked on the verge of being sick.

"Boys!" The sisters cried in unison. Zack and Cody suddenly found themselves caught in the middle of a bone-crushing group hug.

"Are you guys alright?" Phoebe asked with a voice full of concern.

"We're fine, but Max needs healing." Zack replied.

"I'll take care of her." Leo assured him, taking Max and—despite her protests—carried her to the couch. "Nat, move London. Make room."

The sorceress moved the still sleeping heiress aside—a little more brutally than was necessary—before helping Leo lay Max across the couch to address the wound while the rest of the living room quickly became a scene.

"Oh good, Carey you're back!" Paige cheered, throwing her arms around the woman.

"Umm… nice to see you too… Paige?"

Piper moved to the front and handed Wyatt to Phoebe so she could grab Zack and Cody firmly by their shoulders. "What were you two thinking? You had me worried sick."

"We're sorry." The twins answered earnestly.

"Hi there." Came Carlisle's voice from the back of the group where he had stayed hidden.

"Whoa!" Phoebe cried, shifting Wyatt on her hip so she could thrust a fist into Carlisle's face. The poor man staggered back holding his hands to his nose. The others gathered at the opposite side of the living room, all eyes intent on him. "What's he doing here?"

"Relax." Natalia assured them, pushing her way to the front. "It's not The Heir."

Carlisle nodded sheepishly through watery eyes. Suddenly, London snapped her eyes open and looked around at the gathering with bleary eyes.

"What'd I miss?"

The sun had started to creep over the horizon and bathe San Francisco in its soft orange light, and the sisters and Natalia were still hammering poor Carlisle with questions. However, being in less abusive company, and still grateful to the boys, he was glad to comply.

"He's going to use the autumnal equinox to perform his ritual tomorrow night… well tonight I guess now. It's the strongest night to gain his powers." Carlisle wasn't entirely sure what any of that meant, but The Heir hadn't bothered to conceal his thoughts from his 'mortal shell' and the witches he was explaining this to seemed to understand.

"He's right. That's the night we got our powers." Phoebe realized.

"That's not good." Piper agreed.

"And why isn't he still using your body to maintain cover?" Natalia prodded, a little more intense in her questioning than the sisters.

Carlisle shook his head sadly. "He doesn't need to anymore. The Tipton is completely empty. Except for the demons of course."

"What about Maddie, and Arwin, and Moseby?" Zack asked urgently.

Carlisle frowned again, not enjoying his role as the bearer of bad news. "Some members of the staff were round up while trying to help the guests evacuate. It's possible that your friends are with them. They're being held in one of the suites. The demons are forcing them to dig something up in the basement."

The others looked at each other with expressions of worry. Natalia and The Charmed Ones knew exactly what they were digging for in the basement. But the boys were worried for a different reason.

"Who was with them?" Zack pleaded.

"The manager, a balding handyman, a bellhop with a thick accent, a not too bright lifeguard, an elderly red-headed maid, and that sweet girl who works at the candy counter." Carlisle's frown deepened. He was unable to forget the faces of the kind people that his own mouth had imprisoned.

"We have to get them out." Cody voiced everyone's thoughts.

"What's this we stuff?" London pouted hopelessly. "I don't have any freaky powers. What am I supposed to do, bribe the demons?" She paused with a thoughtful look on her face, no doubt actually contemplating the idea.

"That's it!" Cody cried. All eyes turned to him, staring as if he'd announced that he had just sprouted wings on his ankles. He furrowed his brows. "Don't you get it? London's the key!"

"Sure Cody, sure." Zack patronized, making a hand motion to the others that his brother had hit his head recently.

"No, I'm being serious. Why did The Heir want London out so badly?" They were all still drawn a blank, but were now regarding him with interest. "It wasn't just because she owns the Tipton. It's because she's the force for good that holds the Nexus. That means she can stop him from using it!"

"Oh my gosh, he's right." Phoebe realized. "All we'd have to do is get her to the basement to say the spell!"

"You're forgetting something." Natalia rained on Cody's parade. "That won't stop The Heir for long."

"She's right." Piper agreed—for once—with the sorceress.

Cody's face fell. "It's not the seven, but it's the best I could come up with."

The seven, Zack mused to himself. Idly he thought back to the story of Melinda Warren and his ancestor Eva Proctor fighting The Source. He'd enjoyed that story. Then he thought of something he hadn't before. "Hey Natalia, didn't you say that the seven had to be connected to that first battle in the grove?"

"Yes." Natalia nodded, impressed by his knowledge. Before anyone could say anything, Zack dashed upstairs and returned with the Book of Shadows Cody and Max looked at eachother, never being able to recall a time Zack had so eagerly fetched a book.

"I think if we read that page again we might—whoa!" Zack squealed as he was knocked to the floor. He had taken the book a little too close to Natalia and it had responded accordingly by throwing itself away from her. He picked himself up, a little abashed by the incident. "We might find something."

"What did you have in mind?" Max asked, fully recovered from the poison thanks to Leo. "Natalia's been searching three hundred years for the seven."

"Just bear with me." Zack quieted her.

"Let's give it a try." Cody agreed.

"Okay, here it is. 'When full moon's risen high a shadow will rise' that must be the autumn whatever, and we already know that the shadow is The Source. 'Thrice hath it risen, thrice hath it died' that must be when you guys vanquished him before. The place where great powers lie means the Nexus, and to get rid of him for good, we need the seven."

"We've been through this." Natalia drawled. "The only surviving bloodlines strong enough to cast a Power of Three spell are Melinda Warren's and Eva Proctor's, because I doubt any of Matthew Tate's line would be willing to help us. You two are all that's left of Eva's line."

Zack could almost feel his brain physically click into place as an idea struck him. "What about our mom?"

"Zack, sweetie I don't have any powers." Carey reminded him.

"Mom, that potion you saved Max with wasn't chump change."

"You saved Max with a potion?" Leo asked with incredulity. "No witch has ever been able to stop darklighter poison with a potion. So far the only thing that can stop it from killing a whitelighter is another whitelighter."

Carey shrugged sheepishly. "It was nothing really."

"No mom, he's right." Cody brightened. "That potion was strong. Just because you don't have any active powers, doesn't mean you're not a witch. That would make you, me, and Zack a coven of three!"

"Not a bad idea." Paige grinned excitedly. "Carey, welcome to the seven."

"Alright, but we're still one witch short." Natalia reminded them, resuming her usual cynicism.

"Maybe." Zack agreed, but then grinned. "And maybe not. Maybe you've had the seventh witch all along." He grinned as the sorceress' expression took on one of confusion. "You were at that first battle, and according to the book you're powerful enough to be your own coven of three."

"That's right!" Cody beamed, knowing that information was accurate. He couldn't believe he hadn't thought of that considering that no one had studied Natalia's entry more closely than him.

"You think _I'm _one of the seven? Maybe it was _you _thathit your head a little too hard."

"I think he's right Nat." Piper agreed. "You have been caught up in our family history for a long time."

"Much as you hate to admit it, you're practically one of us." Phoebe chuckled.

The purple eyed demoness' face darkened as she folded her arms. She glanced upward and muttered something inaudible (although it sounded like "Good one Melinda.") "Fine then." She growled. "It looks as though Zackary has figured out in a matter of minutes what took me three centuries."

"Three covens, seven witches." Cody mused. "Alright Zack!" He cheered as he and his brother did their special handshake.

"Alright, I say we have a pretty good battle plan." Paige nodded brightly. She held her hand out in the center of the group, motioning for the others to do the same. Piper, Phoebe, Zack, Cody, Max, Carey, Leo, London, Carlisle, followed reluctantly by Nat put their hands in the circle, the seven witches and their allies sealing the connection that had bound them together from the beginning.


	17. Chapter 16: Where Great Powers Lie

A/N: Sorry for the wait, but I was violently ill. Here's the latest installment. By the way, for all the Sprouse Brothers fans out there, I saw their new movie "The Prince and the Pauper" and I totally loved it. It's awesome that they're exploring new frontiers, and I'm anxious to see where they head next.

Chapter Sixteen: Where Great Powers Lie

It wouldn't be long now. The full moon of the equinox would reach its place in the sky. London's suite at the topmost floor of the Tipton was now a great pillared chamber of stone. The Grimoire lay open on its gruesome pedestal made entirely of skulls in the center of the chamber. The only part of the original suite that had remained was the great window that led to the balcony where the moonlight was creeping in. It was casting eerie shadows all around, the room's only source of light.

The Heir stood before the pedestal. He stood as motionless as a statue appearing utterly calm, but the impatient tapping of his boot betrayed his mask. The dark priest that had been brought in to perform the ceremony was hunched over the dark book and practically cowering in his robes.

A trail of black orbs sailed into the room signaling Helen's return, but she was alone this time as she materialized behind where her master stood. The Heir kept his back turned to her as he spoke in his chillingly calm tone.

"Where are the sacrifices?"

He heard Helen shudder. "My lord, I… I'm sorry. They escaped." Her voice trembled in fear. "And Rupert… Rupert's dead." She breathed. It was strange for her to feel that way over her brother's demise. Darklighters weren't supposed to feel that kind of pain, but she couldn't deny that she was feeling grief over her twin's death. "Those brats and their whitelighter vanquished him."

"Yes, I know." The Heir replied. "I felt it. In fact, I intercepted his orbs just before they reached the wasteland." He turned to face her with his piercing grey eyes, made even more startling by the black markings on his face. He held up his long pale arm to show Helen what he held. In his black-clawed fingers was a clear shimmering crystal. Rupert's black orbs were swirling around in it.

Helen's breathing stopped in her chest as she stepped slowly closer to her master, her eyes never flickering from the crystal that held her brother. She was so transfixed by its dark light that she didn't notice the dark glimmering blade in The Heir's other hand until it had plunged itself into her. The Heir pushed his black longsword deeper into her stomach as he whispered in her ear.

"Oh, don't look too surprised Helen. After all, you did lose the sacrifices. So I suppose you and your brother will have to do." The Heir smiled as he lightly kicked Helen off of his blade to lie on the floor, scarcely breathing, the crystal that held her twin clutched tightly in her hand. The moonlight lingered on her pale face, illuminating her flame-red curls as she lay slowly dying.

Satisfied with his work, The Heir twirled his sword, vanishing it from his hand. He turned away from Helen and back to the priest.

"Shall we begin then?"

"Where are we?" Piper asked as her and her sister's orbs reformed.

"This is right outside the Tipton." Zack explained.

"Why couldn't we just orb in like last time?" Piper felt Natalia tap her shoulder. She turned to see what the sorceress was pointing at and her mouth fell open. "Figures." A pulsating shield of red surrounded the entire hotel.

"Can everyone see that?" Cody marveled, looking up at it.

"Only magical beings." Natalia explained.

"So what's keeping everybody else back?" Zack queried. Natalia pointed again, this time at the length of CAUTION tape that had been placed all along the perimeter of the building. "Oh."

"Okay, stand back." Piper warned, waving them all back a few steps. Then without warning she threw her hands at the shield, sending her most powerful blast at it. It backfired, sending her flying backwards to land in a heap.

"Piper!" Leo cried, rushing to help his wife.

Piper coughed as he helped her to her feet. "Well it was worth a shot."

Cody stepped closer to the shield to inspect it. "Zack, it's the same kind that they used on our cell. Do you think we can break it the same way?"

Zack ran his fingers through his long shaggy bangs, pushing them out of his face. "I don't think so. This one is way too big to blast down."

"I think you're all looking at this the wrong way." Natalia mused. "I don't think our problem requires us to break it down. We just need an opening to get to the other side. Maxine, give me your athame." Natalia took the dagger from Max, her jaw set and her violet eyes intent on the shield. She held the knife point down. She released it, and it hung suspended in the air. Purple streaks of lightning writhed from the sorceress' hands into the floating dagger while she chanted a spell.

_**"Wanton powers in this blade yield.**_

_**Penetrate that which would shield."**_

Once the athame was filled with purple electricity, Natalia took it by its hilt and made a downward slash into the force-field. The lightning shot from the blade in multiple directions, fighting to keep the slash from closing over. It forced it wider, making a narrow opening just barely large enough for the others.

"Go now!" Natalia groaned from the strain. The party filed in quickly, careful to avoid the lightning. Once they were all through, Natalia could hold it no longer. Her body melted into a smoky black shadow that lunged through the opening and rolled to the ground where she reformed, breathing raggedly. Max crouched to help her up, but the sorceress merely handed her weapon back before shrugging her off. She grabbed the nearest lamppost for support, staggering to get back to her feet. "I'll be fine."

"Everyone remember the plan?" Piper asked. All nodded. "Good. Leo, you're with Max, Carlisle, and London. Nat?"

Natalia nodded weakly. "I know my part. Just go, I'll meet you there."

"Alright, let's go."

Carlisle stormed through the hallway on the twelfth floor of the Tipton, trying to look intimidating even though he still wore the tattered remain of his suit. He stomped right up to two random leather-clad demons. "You two! Those idiot darklighters lost the sacrifices. I need to select two from the prisoners." The two demons looked at each other, confused. "Well, snap to it!" Carlisle barked.

The two muscled but dimwitted demons jumped to do his bidding, leading him further down the hall to the suite that had been converted into a prison. They began working the keys they carried into the six individual locks that chained the door shut (a process which took several minutes). They were so distracted by this task that they didn't hear the three individuals orb in behind them. Before they could open the third lock, Leo, Max, and London had them both clocked out.

"What took you so long?" Carlisle sighed in relief. "I was sure they were about to figure me out."

"We would've come sooner if Leo weren't so worried about bringing this trunk." Max threw Leo an accusing glare, pointing to the massive chest he had managed to retrieve from the attic of the manor. "What's in there anyway?"

"Demon leftovers." Leo explained, lifting the wooden lid. Inside was an impressive array of weapons that had been left over from former demon vanquishes; a mace, a morningstar, a ball & chain, two gleaming longswords, an axe, a celerity demon's pronged gauntlets, even a darklighter's crossbow with a quiver of arrows.

"Cool." Max grinned.

"Ooo! I call this one!" London chimed, reaching for the first longsword with a gold-plated handle and a dragon burned into the hilt.

"Did you find it?" Phoebe called from the other end of the hallway where the sisters, the twins, and Carey had just orbed in.

"One way to find out." Piper said, getting ready to blast down the door.

"We're gonna die here, aren't we?" Lance the lifeguard droned for the eighth time.

"Lance, stop saying that." Maddie griped as she continued poking around the door looking for a means of escape.

"Madeline, I fear Lance may have a point." Moseby said hopelessly. "We're locked in and being guarded by whatever those creatures are."

"Plus they bricked off the window to the fire escape, and we finished digging for that thing in the basement so technically they don't need us anymore." Arwin added matter-of-factly. Maddie glared at him. "What? I'm just saying."

"No." Estaban cut in with his heavy Latin accent. "Maddie is right. In my country we never give up without a fight. I for one refuse to sit here and wait for death. I will fight 'till the end."

"Thank you, Estaban." Maddie smile admiringly.

"Or at least wait for someone to rescue us." He added, ruining the moment.

"Rescue us? That's a laugh." Moseby huffed. "Who in their right mind would enter this death trap?"

Maddie thought for a moment. "Zack and Cody."

Moseby rolled his eyes. "You're joking right?"

"No, I mean the air-ducts. Zack and Cody used to crawl around in them all the time. There's got to be one in here. Estaban, help me move this cabinet." Maddie and Estaban bent and slid the cabinet over with some difficulty to reveal a good sized air vent. Maddie crouched to see if they could remove it. "Arwin, we need your screwdriver."

Arwin pulled a mini-screwdriver from the pant-leg of his blue jumpsuit. It was the one tool he had managed to conceal from the demons. The handyman gently nudged Maddie aside to work on opening the vent. The screws fell to the floor and the vent swung neatly open. Their faces fell when they discovered that it too had been bricked over.

"Shoot."

"You know, this kind'a reminds me of that night I spent in the slammer with Peppers." Muriel mused from her seat in the corner, sounding very far off. The others just stared at her, astounded by her lack of worry. "I sweet-talked the warden into letting me out, then I clubbed him over the head and took his keys, and Peppers & I drove off into the sunset… Hey, maybe that'll work on these bad boys."

Moseby rolled his eyes. He dismissed Muriel's flashback and was about to say something comforting to Maddie, but was interrupted by a sudden crash that reduced the door to splinters.

The Halliwells and the twins filed in, followed by their respective whitelighters. London, Carlisle and Carey followed closely behind.

"You?!" Moseby cried.

"Boys, you came for us!" Maddie cheered.

"I've never been so happy to see you, little blond peoples!" Estaban beamed. Zack and Cody found themselves caught in yet another group hug.

"No, you're welcome. Really it was nothing." Piper huffed.

After the group hug was over and the boys were through the awkward explanation of their part in this as witches, as well as their connection to the sisters and—to Moseby's astonishment—Natalia, Leo began going over the battleplan.

"Each of you are going to arm yourselves and help me and Max get London to the basement. It's our only chance of getting out of this alive."

"Because London's the only one who can seal the Nexus!" Arwin grinned. Secretly he had always believed in the supernatural and had done extensive research over the years.

"Right." Leo nodded. "Once we get there, London will say the spell and cut The Heir off from its power. We may need to fight our way there, but don't worry. Max and I have been doing this sort of thing for a long time. You're in good hands."

Leo continued to explain while London distributed the weapons. The morningstar was given to Arwin which worried everyone. Moseby took the second longsword, claiming to have had formal training. Lance took the pronged gauntlets, probably because they resembled flippers. Estaban took the mace, Carlisle the axe, and Muriel took the ball & chain. This left Maddie with the darklighter's crossbow, hoping that her archery training from girl's camp would pay off.

"Can fight demons. I wonder how that would look on my Resume."

Everyone in the room was so busy trying to wrap their heads around the impossible task that had suddenly been laid before them that no one notice two of the group's members slip into the hallway, away from prying eyes. In a far corner of the hallway obscured by a shrub, Cody had led Max by the hand.

"Cody, what is this about?"

"Listen, we don't have a lot of time. We've never done anything this dangerous before—"

"Ah-hem." Max interrupted.

"Alright fine, _I've _never done anything this dangerous before, and before we go I need to know." He looked at the floor, his face flushing to a hot shade of red.

"Know what?" Max tried to break the silence.

"Back there in the cave… it made me realize how dangerous our job is. Piper had tried to explain by telling me about how she lost her sister Prue, but it hadn't really hit me until I… until we almost lost you."

"And?" Max prodded.

"So this might be my last chance to ask you… if you've forgiven me."

Max blinked. "For what?"

"For how I treated you. It wasn't your fault you couldn't tell me your secret, and you probably felt really bad about it, and I just threw it in your face. Friends shouldn't treat each other like that."

"How Disney of you." Max smiled and rolled her brown eyes that seemed to sparkle to Cody.

"I'm being serious." Cody frowned. "I need to know if you forgive me. This might be the last time we see each other."

"Don't talk like that."

"Would you just answer me?!" Cody demanded, urgency shining through his eyes.

Max stared back having never remembered her charge… her friend sounding more serious. More like a man. She breathed in before she answered.

"Yes, I forgive you." It was a simple answer, but it was one that seemed to satisfy him.

Cody gulped. It was happening again—the same thing that had caught him off guard at the dance. Once again he couldn't tell which of them was doing it as their eyes met, but in moments it wouldn't matter. He didn't fight it this time. Instead he closed his eyes and the distance between their lips. Max's eyes widened, but soon closed over as Cody put his arms around her waist and pulled her closer. She followed his lead and wrapped her arms around his neck. She could feel his hand moving gently up her back to stroke her hair.

In that moment, she dropped her athame and forgot everything. Nevermind they were fighting insurmountable evil before it got its hands on unlimited power. Nevermind that all they had to go on was a rag-tag group of hotel employees and a three hundred year old prophecy. All that seemed real right now was that he was holding her and kissing her with more passion than she had ever known, and that for once she didn't have to go it alone. In his arms she felt safe.

A few minutes later, the two of them re-entered the suite, virtually unnoticed.

"Where've you been?" Zack whispered to his brother.

"Nowhere. I've been here the whole time." Cody answered defensively. Once everyone was ready they all started for the elevator, Cody and Max straggling behind the others, hand in hand. When they reached the elevator and the doors opened, the first group (the sisters, the boys and Carey) filed in, wishing the second group (the employees, the whitelighters, London and Carlisle) good luck.

Cody and Max didn't look away from eachother until the elevator doors closed. The elevator started upward while he reached into his pocket for the black band Piper had given him. He tied his shaggy straw-colored hair back, feeling more powerful than ever.


	18. Chapter 17: The Shadow Rises Again

A/N: Crappy title, I know. But it's a pretty exciting chapter. Usual disclaimers, don't own anything in "Suite Life" or "Charmed." R&R and enjoy.

Chapter 17: The Shadow Rises Again

The elevator doors of the Tipton lobby opened and a troop of leather clad demons marched in. The leader approached the captain of the current patrol.

"Guard change." He growled. The second nodded his head and signaled for his soldiers to follow him. No sooner had the elevator opened when a second group of demons entered, identical to the first.

"Guard change." The leader growled. The other captain looked from the second squad to the first in utter confusion.

"No, they're taking our shift."

"No, we are. You're supposed to switch with the squadron on the prison floor."

"No," called a demon in the back of the ranks, "that's where _you're_ going."

The first demon captain strode warily to the demon who had spoken. "What's the password?"

"Umm…" the demon stammered. "Demons rule?"

Before the captain could say anything further he found himself caught in the back by another's athame. In moments the lobby became a battlefield as the two squads of demons realized what was going on.

"Demons rule?!" Maddie grimaced as the glamour around her and the others faded. "That was the best you could come up with?!"

"I was under pressure!" Arwin cried in earnest, swinging his Morningstar clumsily, but effectively at two of his foes.

"Never mind!" Leo shouted to be heard over the throng of battle as blades and clubs clashed and fireballs were thrown and batted away in all directions. "Maddie, I need you to aim for the back of the ranks! These are swarm demons! If you take out the king, they'll all disappear! Muriel, cover her!"

"You got it hot stuff!" Muriel took a battle position by Maddie, swinging her ball & chain menacingly while roaring at the top of her lungs. Maddie knelt behind her, doing her best to snipe at the back of the ranks while trying not to get hit by Muriel's renegade weapon.

"Lance, Moseby!" Max called. "Get London to the basement!"

Moseby nodded, and jumped in front of London, holding his sword long ways in front of him, bouncing away a fireball that had been intended for her.

Unfortunately one of the captains noticed their endeavor to get to the lower level. "Block the stairs!" Five demons blocked the party's path while more demons shimmered in to enter the fray.

Max bared her teeth in fury, jabbing her knife at a demon who had made a dive for the trio. He jumped back and it missed, barely, but both whitelighter and demon were surprised when purple lightning shot from the weapon. It pierced her enemy in the abdomen, just below his ribcage, vanquishing him instantly. She stared at her athame in shock, trying to figure out how it had managed that kind of power. Then she remembered. Natalia had blessed the athame by channeling her own power into it. The young whitelighter looked back to the demons who were barring their way to the basement.

"Get down!" She warned her friends. They dropped just before she swung her dagger in a broad arc, sending a wave of lightning into their enemies and reducing them to ash. Max smiled at her weapon. "So that's how that feels." This fight was about to get very interesting.

**"_Occidit __una __domus"_**The dark robed priest chanted.

**_"Occidit __una _**_**domus"** _The Heir repeated, his hand on the pages of the Grimoire. He could feel the evils of the world seeping into him, coursing through his veins. This was the moment he'd been waiting for. His throne was only seconds away.

**_"Omne __quas __meruere __pati _**_**poenas"** _The priest continued.

_**"Omni quas meruere pati poenas"** _The Heir gasped with delight. Dark energy erupted from every pore in his gaunt pale body. His piercing grey eyes became as fire and cooled to glassy black orbs. They were completely dark, like inescapable pools of evil. He was The Heir no longer. He stood in the stone chamber, The Source of all Evil. He laughed out loud, cursing the heavens with his very existence.

But his moment of joy was short-lived. The priest made a choking sound in his throat, and The Source watched his face turn red before he imploded.

"I'm sorry." Came the youngest Charmed One's voice. "I think you have the wrong room."

"The Charmed Ones." The Source sneered. "Come to try again? I think you'll find me quite unstoppable without the Hollow."

"We don't need the Hollow." Piper answered defiantly. "We have them."

At that moment the door to the chamber that had once been London's suite burt into flames and Zack, Cody and their mother stormed in, the boys looking more intimidating than their age would allow.

The Source laughed again, tossing his long dark bangs aside. "Two children and their powerless mother, that's the best you could do?"

"Not quite." Came a familiar voice as the great glass window of the balcony swung open. The wind blew in through The Source's black hair, whipping his braid about, his long dark cloak billowing around him. A shadowy cloud swirled from the sky, obscuring the full moon and landed in the room, reforming into the sorceress who had faced him in the grove all those years ago. "I'll erase your face this time." She hissed.

It was something to behold; the Charmed Ones at the right, the young but powerful witches and their mother at the left, and Natalia facing him. Anyone else would have wished to shrivel into nothing as the seven witches stared them down. The Source merely shifted his black gaze from one witch to the next, as if deciding which he hated more.

"Paige, now!" Phoebe cried, pulling the small wooden chest from behind her back and opening it, revealing the pyrite crystals within.

Paige waved her hand over it. "Crystals, circle!" The gleaming crystals were magically orbed around The Source, a cage of energy rising from them to trap him.

The Source touched it with his black-clawed fingers. It forced his hand back with its magical energy. "Ah, the pyrite crystal cage. I believe Prue invented this." He mused, no doubt relishing the reaction his mentioning Prue's name garnered from the Charmed Ones. "Her work was always flawless. You see, awhile ago this might have been a problem, but not anymore." He turned back to the Grimoire which had been caged with him, and flipped the page.

"Hurry, the spell!" Natalia barked.

All seven witches began chanting hurriedly with rehearsed memorization.**_ "Prudence, Patricia, Penelope, Mel—"_**

But The Source was quicker. _**"Natum adai necral daya intay layok"** _Deep below them in the basement at the very heart of the hotel, the Nexus rumbled and its power spiraled upward, turning black to reflect its new wielder. It reached the top floor in moments, entering he who summoned it. The Source drank it in, practically drunk on its power. He tore the sleeves of his tunic away to reveal veins bulging along his pale arms. They had turned as dark as his soul. He stretched his arms towards the walls of his prison. Shadows swirled around them, taking on the shape of massive clawed hands that dug into the energy shield then flung outward, shattering the cage and scattering the crystals.

The seven witches were knocked off their feet from the force, sliding backwards. The now all powerful demon lord turned his gaze on Carey who had her arms spread protectively over her young how had been dazed by the blast.

"Take the weakest link," The Source bellowed, his voice now a low rumble, like thunder, "and the rest will follow." The shadowy hands condensed into twin black longswords. With unnatural speed he advanced on Carey, raising his blades high.

Carey wrenched her eyes shut, waiting for the blow, but was surprised to hear the clang of metal. She looked up to see that Natalia—the soul member of the group who had retained her footing—had conjured longswords of her own, alight with violet fire and was defending her from The Source blade on blade.

The sorceress was skilled with the blade, and was holding her own as clang after clang rang through the air, but the Nexus was enhancing The Source's already inhuman strength and speed. He sailed in with his left sword, which Natalia blocked by crossing her blades just before it reached her midriff. He merely smiled before swinging his right hilt into her head. With Natalia stunned, The Source saw his opportunity to spin a powerful kick into her stomach and send her flying backward into the wall to lie in a heap. Her blades slid along the floor, their purple flames extinguished.

Phoebe leapt to her feet and levitated into the air to send a whirling kick of her own into the enemy's head. The Source spun around, blades swinging for Phoebe, but found himself blocked on both sides. Zack and Cody had picked up Natalia's swords and were defending Phoebe from his attack. The swords were alight with Zack's crimson flames, empowering his and Cody's attack. They were not skilled in wielding these weapons, but they were sufficient in knocking away The Source's blades so Phoebe could move in with her own physical attacks.

"Swords!" Paige called, orbing The Source's weapons way from him into her waiting hands. The Source gazed at her briefly, and on their own Paige's hands clenched the hilts of the blades. Without any control, she swung the blades at Piper who had just gotten to her feet, ready to blast. Piper ducked only seconds before her own sister struck her.

"What are you doing?!" Piper shrieked.

"I'm not!" Paige cried. "It's the swords! Piper, get out of the way!" Paige swung down at her sister again. Piper rolled out of harm's way just before the blade came to rest in the ground where she had just been standing. Phoebe was unable to help for The Source was now engaging her in hand to hand. Zack and Cody found that he was batting their blades away as easily as if his hands were steel.

The Source kicked upward, aiming for Phoebe's jaw, forcing her to back-flip out of the way. He seized the chance to grab Zack and Cody's weapons by the blades. He clenched them tightly while they tried to yank them free. Instead, The Source snapped them in half like dried twigs. The twins stared in shock at their broken weapons. The Source grinned with his angular teeth, and with a wave of his arm sent them sliding across the floor.

Phoebe retaliated, but was having trouble keeping up with The Source's blinding speed.

"Zack, do something!" Cody pleaded while he and his brother tried to pull each other to their feet. "Hit him with a fireball!"

"I can't!" Zack cried hopelessly. "I might hit Phoebe!"

Cody looked desperately from his brother, to his mother who was trying to rouse the unconscious sorceress, to Piper who was too busy trying not to get killed by Paige to do anything. As Paige unwillingly swung the swords again, Cody got an idea. He stretched his arm towards Paige's weapons and concentrated with all his might. Paige froze in mid-swing. The blades began to tremble from Cody's pull. All at once they were torn from her hands and sent spinning for The Source.

"Phoebe, duck!"

The middle Halliwell dropped to the floor with warrior's reflexes, not questioning why. The swords spun through the air to strike The Source in the chest, sending him careening into the morbid pedestal that upheld the Grimoire. Somehow it had remained untouched by the battle.

"Zack, now!" Cody shouted, taking his brother's hand. A swirling ray of crimson fire shot from their joined hands and hit The Source with incredible force, growing until it became a pillar of flames that roared around their attacker from the stone floor to the ceiling. The flames were joined by amethyst lightning, and the twins looked up to see that Natalia had risen again to add her power to theirs.

The sisters had also linked hands and begun chanting. "_The Power of Three will set us free. The Power of Three will set us free. The Power of Three will set us free." _Three beams of blue energy shot from their joined hands, converging into one and adding its power to the already immense attack. A roar of fury and pain erupted from its center. It was unearthly and inhuman. The pillar of fire and lightning and energy was dispersed, spreading across the entire chamber. The seven witches found themselves once again hurtling across the marble floor.

The Source got to his feet. His cloak and tunic were torn and singed. His long black hair had fallen from its braid and now hung wildly about his face and shoulders.

"THIS ENDS NOW!!" He put his hands together, forming an orb of dark energy between them. He pulled his hands apart as it expanded. Black lightning was charging visibly from it. It grew until the ceiling could no longer be seen. The Source of all Evil rose into the air, raising the enormous black orb high, preparing to crush his enemies. All they could do now was wait for the end to come.

The rag-tag group of hotel staff, plus two whitelighters and a CEO had finally managed to get London to the basement where the crater that had once housed the Nexus stood open and ominous in its center. Hurriedly, the group blocked its door, trying to barricade themselves from the swarm demons, still in hot pursuit.

"London, hurry the spell!"

"Right!" London reached into her boot for the piece of paper she had written the spell on. "Naytoom—" she began a little incorrectly, but before she could read the rest screamed as a stray fireball shot from the narrow opening in the door, burning the spell to cinders. "The spell! It's gone!"

"Don't you remember it?!" Maddie demanded, taking a position beside her, ready to fire her crossbow the moment the swarm demons broke down the door.

"No! Do I look like I think ahead?!" A crash sounded outside the door as the demons began ramming it with zeal. The group, who had their backs pressed firmly against the door, were forced forward a few steps before they could reposition themselves. Max's athame was thrown from her hand, and slid uselessly to the farthest corner of the room.

"Come on London, try!" Maddie encouraged frantically.

"Hurry London!" Moseby shouted through the strain of trying to withstand another blow to the door. "We can't hold this door much longer!"

"I think my liver's gonna EXPLODE!" Muriel shrieked.

There was another crash that sent Leo to the concrete floor. Max panicked and tried to help him up, weakening the hold on the door further.

"London." Maddie took her friend by the shoulder. "Remember what you said when you found out that your father was going to sell this hotel? This place is your home, and we're your family. Now's your chance to fight back and do something about it. I know you can do it.

London stared back at her friend as inspiration from her words struck her. Maddie dropped back to her knees, drawing the crossbow.

London clenched both hands around the hilt of her longsword. She closed her eyes and breathed in. Just as the door gave way and the others were sent tumbling over each other, London snapped her eyes open.

**_"Natum __adai __necral __daya __intay __l__ayok"_**


	19. Chapter 18: Be Gone Endless Night

A/N: Here it is. Sorry I took so long, but I wanted to upload the final chapter and the epilogue at the same time. I've had so much fun writing this story, and I hoped y'all enjoyed reading it, as well as the more-or-less subtle nods to all the mega Charmed fans like me. A few final disclaimers: as I've said before, I don't own Charmed or Suite Life, nor do I get any profit from this project. Enjoy the ending.

Chapter Eighteen: Be Gone Endless Night

The troop of swarm demons lived up to their name, crashing through the door, knocking the others over in the process. They prepared to attack, but were met with a sight that stopped their non-hearts in their chests.

London stood near the crater in the floor, her eyes glowing completely white. Her long dark curls blew in a non-existent wind. White energy pulsated around her, flowing from her arms into her sword. When she spoke, the very foundation of the building trembled with her unadulterated rage.

"GET OOOOOUUUUTTT!!!!!"

"Take cover boys!" Muriel crowed, taking Arwin and Moseby by the collar and diving for a corner of the room with speed that didn't look possible for her. The others quickly followed her lead, diving out of the way as London raised her sword. White energy shot from it in a wave that pushed the demons back, vanquishing them as it went. It spread up to the lobby and swirled up the floors through the hallways, purging the hotel of its demonic influence. The breeze died down, and the energy faded. London lowered her blade as her long dark curls settled around her shoulders.

The others found their eyes wide and glued to her, their mouths hanging open. London swung the blade upward, prompting them all to flinch. She paid them no mind as she uttered the second spell.

_**"I am **__**light,**__** I am one too strong to fight.**_

_**Go away, leave my sight, and take with you this endless night."**_

And with that she slammed the gleaming sword point down into the center of the crater. It closed itself over, leaving the blade driven half its length into the ground, sealing the Nexus back with it. Maddie barely had time to catch her before she passed out. No one spoke as she closed her eyes and her breathing grew slow and heavy. London had saved her home, but the battle was only half over.

----------

Cody wrenched his eyes shut, while he and his brother clung to each other. The Source rose higher into the air, the great orb of black lightning still expanding.

"THIS ENDS NOW!!!"

It would only take seconds. He would throw the attack, and they'd all be dead. A beautiful brown eyed face suddenly filled Cody's mind. At least his last memory would be a happy one. He'd never really thought of himself as the type to go down fighting, but he took comfort in knowing that Max would remember him that way.

He risked one peek. What was taking so long? Shouldn't The Source have destroyed them by now? In one terrified glimpse, he saw The Source, still hovering above them as well as the massive energy attack, but he was trembling. The black energy was coming out of him and into the sphere. Not only that, it was lightening in color. It now shone white. In an instant it swirled into a pillar and spiraled back down the way it had come.

Below them they could hear the sound of demons screaming in terror as the Nexus rent them to bits. The Source dropped back to the floor. His black gaze was one of fury as well as defeat.

"No." He growled. "NO! What happened?! Why did the Nexus abandon me?!"

"Because this isn't your home." Cody said bitingly. "I guess the Nexus knows that too."

"Looks like our friends leveled the playing field for us." Zack remarked, getting back to his feet.

"Hurry, the spell." Piper reminded hastened, rousing her sisters. She looked to the twins who nodded, to Carey and Natalia who did the same.

The Source staggered to his feet, using the Grimoire's pedestal for support. His gleaming black eyes swept from one witch to the next. He knew he was beaten. The force of the Nexus being ripped out of him, coupled with the barrage of magical attacks he had endured hadn't left him with enough strength to resist the Power of Three spell.

The seven wasted no more time, ready to be rid of their mortal enemy once and for all.

_**"Prudence, Patricia, Penelope,"**_

_****_"I am not the only evil out there." The Source growled, his eyes intent on Zack and Cody. "I am one of millions."

_**"Melinda, Natalia, Eva, and Grace,"**_

"In places you wouldn't believe, in forms you can't even imagine."

_**"Witches of Old stand strong beside us,"**_

_****_"We are hell on this earth!"

_**"Vanquish this evil,"**_

"You will never be safe." 

**_"from time" _**

_"And you will never be—"_

**_" and space!"_**

"FREEEEE!!!!!!" The Source cried as flames consumed his entire body. In an explosive blast he was silenced forever.

----------

The explosion shook the entire chamber and the seven companions were blown from where they stood to slam into the wall—All except for Cody. Instead, the young witch found himself flying through the great glass window and over the balcony's edge. Dimly he could hear his brother and mother, and the sisters, and even Natalia calling his name in panic as they realized why he wasn't in the room with them.

He could barely register what was happening as the air went rushing past him while he plummeted over twenty stories. Was it really going to end like this? After everything he'd gone through, everything he'd done, even after eliminating the threat was he really going to die? How was that possible? How was that right? Scenes and faces went flashing through his head as the end neared. He was about to come to terms with his fate, knowing it didn't matter anymore. He had done his part.

Just as he braced for the impact that would surely end his young life, all at once the rush of air stopped. He hadn't hit the ground yet, but he had still stopped moving. Slowly he opened his eyes to see what had happened, and found himself in front of the Tipton's doors, just eight feet above the ground.

Had he stopped himself with his powers? Impossible; he was facing upward and his arms had flailed uselessly the whole way down. The young witch didn't have long to wonder. His body was turned over so he could face the woman who'd saved him as she lowered him gently on his feet.

"What's the matter?" she asked with a warm smile. "You act like you've never seen a pretty girl before." She was beautiful, but that wasn't why Cody's mouth was hanging open. He had never met this woman before in his life, but as he stared into her cat-like green eyes and she smiled back at him, tossing back her shoulder length raven hair, somehow he felt like they'd always known each other.

It took a moment for him to find his voice. "Prue?"

She nodded. She looked as beautiful a she had in the picture Piper carried. She wore boot-cut blue jeans over black heeled boots, and a black leather coat. Unknownst to Cody was that it was the same outfit she had worn when she went down fighting Shax.

"I imagine you have questions." She grinned. "Go ahead, we have time. My mother froze it for us."

Cody stopped gaping and tried to smooth his windswept hair. "How are you here?"

"Well, I've been watching you and your brother for awhile now, and something told me you'd need an assist."

"But how are you… wait, watching me?" Cody tried to figure the significance of that sentence when his mind flashed back to something crucial that had happened. Something not even Natalia had been able to explain. "The book, the prophecy, that was you?"

She nodded again. "I had to do something to put you guys on the right path. Nat was being a little too secretive."

"Wait, you've been—"

"No, no Natalia doesn't know about this. Neither do my sisters. But enough about me, I'm dead. So, you've been through a lot in the past week. How are your powers coming along?"

He shrugged. "Fine, I guess."

"But?" she prodded.

Cody sighed. "They can be—"

"Kind of a burden." Prue finished his thought. "I know. But being a witch taught me a lot. The most important of which is that everything happens for a reason. What would've happened if you hadn't been here tonight?"

Cody thought for a moment. "The Source would've gotten the Nexus and probably killed us all." He grimaced.

She nodded approvingly. "Now what would've happened to your brother if you hadn't gotten your powers alongside him."

Cody didn't have to think to hard on this one. "Zack probably would've gotten himself killed."

"Very good. Cody, you have an important role to play in your family. You're the protector, just like I was, and just like Piper became when I was gone. Now I want you to think back to when you first got your powers. How did you feel?"

"Scared."

"I mean after that." Prue chuckled. "When you started using them for good."

Cody tried to piece together what she meant, then it hit him. "Whole. I felt like I got back a part of me."

She smiled warmly. "Now is there any doubt in your mind that this is what you were meant for?"

Cody smiled back as he shook his head.

"Then you're on your way. Now, let's keep this between us okay?"

"Alright. But… I'm still confused. How are you here?"

"That's another thing I learned while being a witch. Death may be inevitable, but it's not forever." She said as she faded away, back to wherever she had come from.

As soon as she was gone, Cody felt time speed up. He turned back to return to the hotel and let everyone know he was alright. He took notice that the grand revolving doors were now nothing more than a pile of glass and twisted metal. They must have been destroyed in the battle. He knelt down by it, recalling how often he and his brother had raced through them, nearly knocking over several guests. It seemed like such a far off time now.

A chiming sound broke through his thoughts, and he looked up to see a swarm of white lights zooming towards him. Max reformed and collided straight into him. They both fell backwards with her on top of him.

"Cody?" She gasped as they pulled themselves to a sitting position. She threw her arms around his neck, nearly suffocating him in her grip. "I'm so glad you're safe, I was so worried! I felt you in danger but I didn't think I could get to you in time!" She fell into his chest, breathing heavily. He stroked her long brown curls which had fallen out of their braids in the fight.

"It's alright. I'm fine. We won, it's over." He put his own arms around her, pulling her into a kiss. It was better than the one they had shared before, for now they knew that nothing, demons or secrets would ever threaten their being together ever again.

----------

Almost as quickly as their panic had begun, it ceased when the others in London's suite—now back to its normal appearance—saw Max orb in, hand in hand with Cody.

"Oh, my baby!" Carey cried, scooping him up in a bone-crushing embrace and smothering him with kisses. The moment she set him back on his feet, Cody felt a sharp punch to his shoulder.

"Don't scare me like that." Zack scolded.

"Sorry." was all Cody could say. Prue's words of his role to protect his brother from trouble and watch his back drifted into his mind. But just as he knew how important his role was, he also knew of Zack's role as the heart of the family. It would be Zack who would keep their mood light, and make their life bearable in spite of all the terrors and dangers they were sure to face. "Where's the Grimoire?" he asked.

"Gone." Zack answered. "It must have been destroyed in the blast that destroyed The Source."

"Are you alright?" Piper asked as her sisters patted his back and tousled his hair. "You look pretty good, considering you just fell twenty-eight stories."

"Indeed." Came Natalia's smooth sultry voice. She stepped lightly toward the boys. Carey moved as if to bar her path, but the sorceress' amethyst gaze stated plainly that this was meant to happen. "Now you've both seen this life first hand, and what it can do to you. As I promised your mother before, I will honor the pact and allow you the choice of which life you will lead. You may either keep your powers and continue through this destiny, or relinquish them to me and lead normal lives with no one coming after you."

Cody stared at the imposing sorceress whose appearance had turned out to bring as much good as it had bad, to the sisters who stood as motionless as a portrait. They obviously didn't want to affect his choice, but their example had already made his decision.

He looked back at his mother and Max who both looked like they already knew his answer. Zack nodded, as if to say 'whatever you decide, I'll agree.' But Cody knew how much Zack had come to love this new life, warts and all. He took his brother's hand and gazed back up at Natalia.

"I think we'll be alright with this new life. Everything happens for a reason right?"

Zack beamed at his brother, relieved that Cody had changed his mind. "Yeah, what he said." He agreed vehemently.

Natalia nodded as if she'd expected nothing less. "Very well. Then I have a feeling we'll cross paths again." She stated as she turned heel towards the balcony.

"Where're you going Nat?" Phoebe asked.

Natalia thought for a moment. "You know, that's a very good question. The Source's demise has put an end to a thousand year mission… I hope I don't get bored." She left them with one last secretive smile before vanishing in a shadowy mist.

----------

A/N: As a little nod to all the Prue fans, I had to give her an appearance. I hope I don't get flamed for that.


	20. Epilogue: As One Storm Clears

Epilogue: As One Storm Clears…

"Yes Mr. Tipton, I've decided to call off the deal." Carlisle grinned into his cell phone as his limbo began to take off. "That daughter of yours is a natural. She helped me realize what a mistake I was making before it was too late."

"That's my little girl." Mr. Tipton's voice was a little garbled due to the fact that he was currently thousands of feet above the air in his private jet, but his pride in his daughter was easily distinguished. "So can we expect to see you in Barbados? 'Cause I got to tell you, I feel like a million bucks. It's almost like some dark cloud's been lifted from over me."

"Oh, you can count on me to be there." Carlisle grinned wider, knowing exactly how Mr. Tipton was feeling.

----------

The Tipton had been beautifully restored in a matter of days thanks to London's efforts. The young heiress had been taking on more responsibility than either Moseby or Maddie thought her capable of, and they were elated to help.

Not much magical cover was needed since the guests were all given the impression that the evacuation had been because of a bomb threat. The mortals who had been involved simply wished to forget the whole thing, and were more than willing to keep their lips sealed.

Indeed the only remaining evidence that there had been a battle at all was the heavy security that had been placed for the basement where the Nexus remained sealed by London's sword, still driven half its length into the cement floor. The revolving doors had been temporarily replaced with a set of beautiful set of Victorian styled double doors, but after seeing how lovely they looked on the front of the hotel, London decided to keep them.

The guests had never seemed happier as they checked back in. However at that moment in the nearly vacant lobby, a much sadder gathering was taking place. The week following the final battle had been filled with joy, laughter, and (much to the Charmed Ones' surprise) some actual vacation time. But now the time had come for the Martins and the Halliwells to say goodbye.

"Well, I guess this is it." Paige declared, having to wipe a tear away from her eye. "You guys take care of yourselves."

"Yeah." Zack replied, clearing his throat. "You too."

"Promise you'll keep me posted." Phoebe smiled, refusing to cry. "I want be kept up to date on everything; powers, school, dating—"

"Phoebe," Piper interjected, "give it a rest."

Leo knuckled Max in the chin playfully. "Take good care of them Max."

"Don't worry." Max quirked a smile. "I'll keep 'em on a tight leash."

Carey took turns hugging each sister tightly. "Now you call us as soon as you get back to San Francisco…and again when you get home. And don't be afraid to orb in whenever."

"Likewise." Piper replied. Then she bent down to be eye-level with the twins (not too difficult considering her height). "Alright guys, take it slow on the demon hunting for awhile. No vanquishing on school nights, no all nighters, don't forget to start your own Book of Shadows, and make sure your mom always knows where you are."

"Okay." They both agreed as Piper took them both in her arms and kissed them on the cheek.

"Maybe we'll take our vacation in San Francisco." Cody sniffed. "You know… to visit Wyatt."

"Come over any time." Piper smiled that warm maternal smile. "Don't forget, you're family now."

"Maybe you can teach me some of your recipes." Cody suggested.

"And maybe you," Phoebe ran her fingers through Zack's hair, "can make good on your promise to take me to the movies."

Zack grinned mischievously. "It's cool with me sweet thang."

She chuckled. She was unable to forget the things she had seen that week in her premonitions; what the future held for the two boys she had grown to love. She saw hardship, struggle, and heartache. But she had also seen joy, friendship, love and bonding above and beyond the possible. They were survivors, just like her and her sisters.

"Alright." Piper stood back up. "We'd better get going if we're gonna make that flight." She reminded them, wiping a few stray tears from her face.

"Take care." Cody said again.

"You too."

Carey went to the elevator, knowing she'd start blubbering if she stayed a moment longer. "I'll see you upstairs for dinner boys."

"Okay Mom." Zack called back as he and his brother, with Max at his side watched the sisters and Leo file into a cab bound for the airport. When it finally pulled away, something across the street caught their attention.

A tall woman in a black trench-coat and knee-high boots, with long raven hair and mocha skin was standing on the opposite sidewalk. She stared back at the young witches with her violet eyes and waved to them elegantly with her slim fingers, her fire-colored birthmark barely visible on her palm. A Greyhound bus passed between them, blocking their view for only an instant. When it passed she was gone, but they could swear they saw a shadow slither over the hedge and out of sight.

"Let's just get back to the suite." Max decided.

"Good idea." Zack agreed. "Cody?"

"I'm coming." Cody replied, not taking his eyes off the place where the woman had just been standing. Then with a wave of his hand, the new double doors of the Tipton swung gently shut.


End file.
